



'■/"virv 




LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 
Shelf */Yr AfT 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



Gospel Work 



NEW YORK CITY. 



A MEMORIAL 



OF 



FIFTY YEARS IN CITY MISSIONS. 



BY LEWIS E. JACKSON, 

CORRESPONDING SECRETARY. 



NEW YORK CITY MISSION, 

SO BIBLE HOUSE. 
7878. 



The Library 
Or CoKGkESB 

WASHINGTON 






"Our fathers have told us, what work thou 
didst in their days : showing to the generation 
to come the praises of the LORD." Psa. 44:1; 
78:4. 

" Cast thy bread upon the waters : for thou 
shalt find it after many days." Eeeles. 11:1. 



; Sow thy seed, be never weary, 

Let no fears thy soul annoy ; 
Be the prospect ne'er so dreary, 

Thou shalt reap the fruits of joy.' 



VJU^ 



8l" 



-fbffi 



CONTENTS. 



I. Historical PAGE 5 

II. Anniversaries - 24 

III. Yearby Year 38 

IV. Tracts distributed 53 

V. Plans and Methods 55 

VI. A Missionary Report 63 

VII. What it costs 65 

VIII. Personal Effort 67 

IX. Fruitfulness of Fruit 68 

X. Hope for Drunkards 71 

XL Tract Work 75 

XII. How to help the Poor 78 

XIII. Whatcanldo? - 81 

XIV. The Soul that stands next 86 

XV. Doing One's Duty 88 

XVI. Take a Stand-- - 92 

XVII. Danger of Neglecting one Child- 94 



4 CONTENTS. 

XVIII. How to save Souls 99 

XIX. A Mission Convert becomes a Missionary 100 

XX. Scandinavians — The Cosmopolitan City 104 

XXI. Living and Teaching the Gospel of Christ 108 

XXII. Water Street 112 

XXIII. The Masses 114 

XXIV. Cooperation 117 

XXV. Workingmen's Clubs - 120 

XXVI. Tenement Houses 122 

XXVII. Our Danger 130 

XXVIII. Tried and Proved - 134 

XXIX. Testimonies 139 

XXX. Woman's Work 148 

XXXI. Organization— Constitution— By-Laws — Chapels — 
Services — Carmel Chapel — Olivet Chapel — 
Helping Hand — Honorary Members — Offi- 
cers — Missionaries — Present Status— Church 
Organization— Form of Reporting — Corporate 
Titles — Forms of Bequest 165 



Gospel Work 

IN 

NEW YORK CITY. 



HISTORICAL. 

Fifty years of Gospel work, in the city of New 
York, having been successfully completed, and 
there being a constant call for information as to 
the plans and results of the same, the present vol- 
ume has been prepared, with a view of preserving 
in convenient shape the leading facts in the forma- 
tion of the City Mission, with such additional state- 
ments as will serve to exhibit its aims, its practical 
operations, and some of its more important results. 
A concise statement of the history of the City Mis- 
sion will appear in a brief recital of the several sa- 
lient points in its organization and development. 

In the " Commercial Advertiser " of Monday, 



6 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

February 19, 1827, there appeared the following 
notice : 

"A public meeting will be held at the City Hotel this evening, 
at 7 \ o'clock, for the purpose of forming a New York City Tract 
Society, for the supply of our seamen, our Humane and Criminal 
Institutions, and for other local tract operations in this city. Sev- 
eral addresses will be delivered. A general attendance of all who 
are friendly to the object is requested." 

In the same paper, on the following Wednesday, 

there was found this brief report : 

"Tract Society. — Agreeably to public notice, a large assem- 
blage of ladies and gentlemen convened on Monday evening at the 
City Hotel, for the purpose of organizing a society to be called the 
' Tract Society of New York, auxiliary to the American Tract So- 
ciety.' Richard Varick, Esq., presided, and the meeting was ad- 
dressed by the Rev. Mr. Somers, the Rev. Mr. Monteith, Rev. Dr. 
Milnor, Rev. Dr. Macauley, and two other gentlemen, agents of the 
American Tract Society. The Constitution was read and adopted, 
after which many of those present became subscribers to the new 
Constitution." 

From a more extended report in the " New 
York Observer," of Saturday, February 24, it ap- 
peared that in addition to those named above, the 
Rev. Dr. Knox, the Rev. Dr. Brodhead, and the 
Rev. Dr. Spring, also actively participated in the 
proceedings, and that the Rev. W. A. Hallock acted 
as Secretary, who also read the report of a prelimi- 
nary meeting which had been held on the 7th, and 
presented the draft of the Constitution as it had 



HISTORICAL. 7 

been prepared by a Committee selected for that 
purpose. 

The ministers and the laymen taking part in 
this meeting were of different churches, of various 
denominations, and their basis of action was their 
general agreement with the evangelical faith; and 
their single aim to make the gospel known to the 
multitudes outside of the churches. 

The Officers and Directors of the New York 
City Tract Society for the first year were as 
follows : 

President — Zechariah Lewis. 

Vice-Presidents — Rev. John Stanford, Rev. 
Cave Jones, Rev. Henry Chase, Dr. John Neil- 
son, Dr. John Stearns, Thomas Stokes, Gerard 
Beekman, and Arthur Tappan. 

Corresponding Secretary — Gerard Hallock. 

Recording Secretary — Oliver E. Cobb. 

Treasurer — Ralph V. Beekman. 

Directors — John Alexander, Moses Allen, 

AUGUSTIN AVERILL, MlCAH BALDWIN, JAMES Ba- 

ker, Isaac Beach, Eli Benedict, Dr. James C 
Bliss, A. Baker, Joseph Brewster, Reuben Brum- 
ley, Frederick Bull, Jireh Bull, E. K. Bussing, 
W. W. Chester, Elisha Coit, O. E. Cobb, Wm. R. 
Cook, Richard Cunningham, Rufus Davenport, 



8 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

John S. Davenport, Rev. Austin Dickinson, 
William E. Dodge, George Douglass, Wm. R. 
Dwight, Charles M. Dwight, Wm. W. Edwards, 
Alfred Edwards, Stephen Griggs, Charles 
Hall, William Hall, Rev. Wm. A. Hallock, 
Timothy Hedges, John W. Hinton, John D. Hol- 
brook, Fisher How, Joseph Howard, Jonas Hum- 
bert, E. D. Hurlbut, Joseph Hurlbut, Rev. Al- 
bert Judson, John Ledyard, George Marsh, Rev. 
W. G. Miller, John Moir, Wm. D. Murphy, Jacob 
C. Mott, Edward H. Neilson, Elias Nexsen, Jr., 
Peter Ogilvie, Ralph Olmstead, Joseph Otis, 
Anson G. Phelps, Zephaniah Platt, William 
Poe, Capt. C. Prince, John Rankin, James B. Re- 
qua, Peter R. Roach, George P. Shipman, Lewis 
Tappan, Knowles Taylor, Henry E. Thomas, 
W. R. Thompson, A. S. Thornton, Abraham Van 
Horne, Samuel G. Wheeler, John Wheelwright, 
Jeremiah Wilbur, and Timothy D. Williams. 

During the first year, the Society distributed, 
through the agency of its committees and volunteer 
visitors, 2,368,548 pages, equal to 592,137 tracts of 
four pages each, and received and expended the 
sum of $2,090 86, and commenced the second year 
with a balance in the treasury of $24. 

For six or seven years following, the Society 



HISTORICAL 9 

continued its useful operations in the same line, 
gradually growing in strength and efficiency. Such 
was the success attending these efforts, and so 
many providential openings were discovered for 
increased exertion, that it was deemed best to en- 
gage men as missionaries who should devote their 
whole time to Christian efforts among the poor and 
neglected. Accordingly, in 1833, mainly through 
the liberality of two or three individuals, men were 
set to work in the Fifth and Eighth Wards ; and 
subsequently, in 1835, the employment of mission- 
aries became the policy of the Society, and the 
number of missionaries was increased to fourteen. 
In the same year, viz., 1835, the Society held two 
Annual Meetings; the first being held March ir, 
1835; and the second, December 23, 1835; and 
from the last date onward, the Annual Meeting has 
been held in December, and is now fixed by the 
charter for the Wednesday following the second 
Monday in December of each year. And this will 
explain why the Fiftieth Anniversary, which would 
properly fall on February 19, 1877, is celebrated 
two months earlier. 

For thirty years the Tract Missionaries, as they 
were generally called, carried forward their evan- 
gelistic operation^ bringing the neglecters of the 

Gospel Work. 2 



io GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

sanctuary into the churches, the children into Sab- 
bath-schools, and holding prayer-meetings in desti- 
tute neighborhoods, etc., and during this period 
they reported an aggregate of tracts distributed, 
30,000,000; of conversions, 7,000; and money ex- 
pended, $400,000. 

In 1864 steps were taken looking to the reor- 
ganization of the Society; new men were brought 
into the Board of Directors, an office was rented 
in the Bible House, a Secretary was appointed, who 
was to devote his whole time to writing up the his- 
tory of the Society, and to giving information to the 
public. And now commenced the publication of 
the reports and papers on the methods and results 
of city evangelization, which have had much to do 
with awaking and directing Christian zeal and ac- 
tivity in this and in other cities, in labors among 
the lowly ; so that the office of the City Mission 
has come to be recognized as a bureau of informa- 
tion on church and charitable work generally, and 
applications for plans of operations and illustrative 
facts and arguments are constantly being received 
from all parts of the country. 

One of the secretary's articles, published in the 
"Journal of Commerce," May, 1864, drew out an 
unexpected response from a gentleman, who gave 



HISTORICAL. ii 

$5,000 towards the establishment of a fund for build- 
ing mission chapels, which fund soon after reached 
the sum of $100,000. 

At the thirty-eighth annual meeting, Dec. 14, 
1864, the name of the Society was changed to that 
of the New York City Mission and Tract Society. 
In 1866 the Society was incorporated by the state 
legislature, and in the same year a Superintendent 
of Missions was appointed for the organization of 
mission chapels and services, the instruction of the 
missionaries, and the advocacy of the claims of the 
Society in the churches and Sabbath-schools. 

In 1867 the first of the chapels, now known as 
Olivet Chapel, was built on a piece of ground in 
the interior of the block between First and Second 
streets, and First and Second avenues ; the ground 
belonged to the First Street Presbyterian Church, 
then recently disbanded, and was given, with some 
personal property, to the City Mission by the trus- 
tees thereof, for that purpose — the state legislature 
by special act authorizing the trustees so to do, and 
thereby confirming the City Mission in their title 
to the possession of the property. 

At the same time premises were rented or pur- 
chased in various other parts of the city, in which 
mission stations were established. Simultaneously 



12 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

with these movements, individual churches and de- 
nominational unions also actively engaged in simi- 
lar evangelistic enterprises, and the number of mis- 
sion chapels was greatly increased. And as the 
churches generally located their missions in the 
upper parts of the city, the City Mission felt it to 
be their province to care particularly for the more 
neglected portions of the city lying chiefly below 
Fourteenth street. 

With commodious and attractive chapels estab. 
lished and regularly ordained ministers appointed 
thereunto, the preaching of the gospel and other 
religious services were appointed, Sabbath-schools, 
temperance meetings, helping hands, and other 
appliances, were instituted, and multitudes were 
brought under the influence of the truth. Through 
the Divine blessing resting on and following these 
labors many souls were hopefully converted. In 
the earlier years of the tract effort the tract mis- 
sionaries and their visitors led their converts into 
the various churches. Now, at least in many in- 
stances, there were no churches at hand where the 
converts could easily go ; and naturally feeling a 
strong attachment to those who first sought them 
out, and to the chapel which had become their spir- 
itual birthplace, these converts expressed an ear- 



HISTORICAL. 13 

nest desire to be gathered into a church on the 
ground. 

For two or three years the question of church 
organization was agitated, until the Executive Com- 
mittee, who had minute and careful oversight of all 
the operations of the missionaries and the workings 
of the chapels, were fully persuaded that the time 
had come when the proper care and growth of the 
converts gathered by the missionaries demanded 
the administration of the Christian ordinances in 
the mission chapels. After mature deliberation the 
Executive Committee resolved to lay the matter 
before the Society, which was done at the annual 
meeting held Dec. 15, 1869, when, after a free and 
general interchange of views, the Society author- 
ized the Executive Committee to proceed to the for- 
mation of Christian congregations in the several 
mission chapels, as called for. 

The following plan was adopted for the orderly 
introduction of the Christian ordinances into the 
City Mission chapels : 

1. A committee of the Executive Committee shall be appointed 
to visit the mission chapel, and those persons who shall wish to 
unite in the Christian society there to be formed, shall present to 
this committee the evidence of their piety, either by certificate of 
their church-membership, or by examination before the commit- 
tee, and when approved by the committee they shall form the 
Christian Society of said mission. 



14 GOSPEL WORK IX NEW YORK. 

2. The Society thus defined shall immediately proceed to elect, 
by a majority of all its members, in which of the forms recognized 
among evangelical Christians the ordinances shall be observed 
within it, and this decision shall be irreversible in that Society, ex- 
cept by a vote of three-fourths of all its members. 

3. It shall then be submitted to the Society whether they will 
elect four or six officers, in classes of two each, to whom shall be 
committed the duty of examining, under the counsel of the mis- 
sionary in charge, and receiving all additional members, and of 
excluding from the ordinances those who, after a fair investiga- 
tion, shall be found to be unworthy of them. 

4. If such election be determined upon, it shall at once pro- 
ceed. The officers of the second class then elected shall hold 
office for one year, when there shall be an election of an equal 
number of officers to take their place. The officers of the first 
class shall be replaced by an election to be held two years hence, 
and yearly elections shall be held thereafter, in such manner that 
all officers shall serve two years. The officers who shall have 
completed their term of office shall be re-eligible. 

5. These officers shall have a spiritual oversight of the mem- 
bers of the Society, but they shall have no control of any of those 
details of mission work which have hitherto been within the power 
of the Executive Committee. The discipline which they shall ad- 
minister shall conform to rules to be hereafter drawn out by the 
Executive Committee. 

6. When any convert who shall wish to join the Society thus 
constituted shall have conscientious preferences in behalf of anv 
form of baptism in use among evangelical Christians, that ordi- 
nance shall be administered in his case according to such prefer- 
ence. And when so many as five members of such Societv shall 
have conscientious preferences in behalf of any mode of admin- 
istering the Lord's Supper which is in use among evangelical 
Christians, and is different from that which has been chosen by 
the Society, a special communion-service, according to such pref- 
erence, shall be appointed for them, to occur as frequently as the 
service adopted by the Society, 



HISTORICAL. 1 5 

7. The ordinances shall in each case be administered by an 
ordained minister, who shall be connected with some evangelical 
ecclesiastical body in this city or vicinity. 

8. The Apostles' creed shall be adopted by the Society above 
described. 

In 1870, in accordance with the action of the 
Society, and upon the plan adopted, Christian So- 
cieties were regularly organized in several of the 
mission chapels, and during the six years that have 
elapsed there have been received into membership, 
on the confession of their faith, an aggregate of 
1,202 persons. 

The Presidents of the Society have been : 1. 
Zechariah Lewis ; 2. Hon. Theodore Freling- 
huysen ; 3. Rev. James Milnor, D. D. ; 4. Rev. 
Thomas De Witt, D. D. ; and 5. A. R. Wetmore. 

The office of Corresponding Secretary has been 
filled successively by, 1. Gerard Hallock; 2. Sid- 
ney E. Morse ; 3. John Cleaveland ; 4. James F. 
Robinson ; 5. Rev. Charles Hyde ; 6. A. R. Wet- 
more ; and 7. Lewis E. Jackson. 

The Rev. George J. Mingins was appointed 
Superintendent of Missions in 1866, and resigned 
in 1875. 

The following is a list of those who- have been 
in the missionary service of the Society, but are 
not now connected with it: 



1 6 



GOSPEL WORK IX NEW YORK. 



ADAMS, CHARLES. 
AMBLER, J. L. 
AMERMAN, R. S. 
ABINGTON, M. 
BABCOCK, W. R. 
BACON, W. A. 
BALLARD, J. B. 
BATTERSBY, C. 
BERGNER, PETER. 
BERKY, ABRAHAM. 
BETKER, JOHN P. 
BISHOP, JAMES VV. 
BLATCHFORD, W. H. 
BOUGHTON, PETER. 
BRADFORD, WM. 
BRADLEY, JOSFPH H. 
BURDICK, JASON L. 
BULEN, JOHN H. 
BUTTS, JOSHUA. 
BURI, PETER. 
CAMP, AMZI. 
CLEVELAND, HENRY W. 
COE, NOAH. 
COLLINS, CHARLES T. 
CRAFT, CHARLES. 
DARLING, CHARLES C. 
DUBOIS, GEORGE. 
DUBOIS, GRANT. 
DICKHOUT, CONRAD. 
ELMORE, JOHN B. 
ENGLISH, ENEAS. 
ERDMAN, M. A. 
FINCH, MYRON. 
FLETCHER, S. 
FRASER, EDWARD A. 
FRIEDEL, HENRY A. 
FROST, S. A. 
GELSTON, ROLAND. 
GORY, ADRIAN. 
GOSS, MARK. 
GRAY, NATHANIEL. 
GRAY, ROBERT H. 
GRAY, WM. 
GRIEVE, DAVID G. 
GROSIEAN, GUSTAVUS. 
GULDIN, JOHN C. 
GULLCK, THOMAS L. 



HAGEN, F. F. 
HALLIDAY, SAMUEL B. 
HAWLEY, EDWIN H. 
HARRIS, JOSEPH. 
HARRIS, THOMAS T. 
HAYTER, RICHARD. 
HELLAND. OLA. 
HOLT, WM. D. 
HORTON, JONATHAN B. 
HORTON, RICHARD. 
HOWELLS, HENRY C. 
HURLBUT, J. L. 
HUTCHINSON, M. N. 
HYDE, CHARLES. 
JANES, FREDERICK. 
JANES, WALTER R. 
JONES, EDWIN F. 
TONES, WM. B. 
KIRBY, WM. 

lathrop, calvin, 
lestrade, joseph p. 
lichtenstein, john, 
little, henry m. 
lockwood, benjamin, 
longmore, benjamin. 
love, john. 
Mcdonald, charles. 

McFARLAND, M. 
MACK, ENOCH. 
MARCHANT, HENRY. 
MATTICE, HENRY. 
MAY, EDWARD H. 
MEACHAM, JOHN H. 
METEER, JOHN H. 
MARTIN, JOHN W. 
MINGINS, GEORGE J. 
MITCHELL, W. F. 
MOORE, DAVID B. 
MORLEY, S. B. 
MUNROE, JAMES W. 
NEFF, G. 

NF.WCOMB, CHARLES S. 
NORTON, O. W. 
ORCHARD, ISAAC. 
OSTROM, JAMES I. 
PARKER, RICHARD. 
PETRESON, P. 



HISTORICAL. 



>7 



95. PAYSON, EDWARD P. 

96. PIERCEY,A. J. 

97. POND, T. 

9S. PORTER, GEORGE. 
99. POTTER, ALEX. 

100. POWELL, C. H. 

101. PRATT, EDWARD. 

102. RAILSBACK, L. 

103. ROBINSON, A. H. 

104. ROE, ALFRED C. 

105. ROTH, WM. 

106. ROWLAND, LEVI P. 

107. RUDY, JOHN. 

10S. RUSSELL, DAVID. 

109. RUSSELL, SAMUEL. 

110. SCHENCK, A. V. C. 
in. SHARP, JOHN S. 

112. SHELDRAKE, JOHN H. 

113. SHIPMAN, D. 



114. SHULTZ, E. M. 
n S . SMITH, WM. C. 

116. SPANSVVICK, THOMAS W. 

117. SPENCER, P. A. 

118. STANLKY, HENRY F. 

119. STEINHART, J. A. 

120. TERRY, DAVID. 

121. TURNER, WM. S. 

122. VAN DYKE, PETER. 

123. VEHSLAGE, HENRY. 

124. WARING, OSCAR M. 

125. WEST, ROYAL. 

126. WHITE, THOMAS. 

127. WILDEY, JOSEPH. 

128. WILDS, ZENAS P. 

129. WITTELSEY, HENRY. 

130. YOUNG, MICHAEL. 

131. YOUNG, SAMUEL. 



If to the foregoing we add the number now in 
the service, the aggregate will be 145, and if we 
still further add the number of missionary women 
who have been or are now in the work, the grand 
total will reach 200. 

The money expended in sustaining the mission- 
aries and carrying on the operations of the Society, 
by the several decades, appears as follows : 



1827 to 1837, $41,761 39. 
1837 to 1847, 104,833 35. 
1847 to 1857, 148,496 60. 



1857 to 1867, $199,805 69. 
1S67 to 1877, 450,620 59. 



Adding to the above the sum of $100,000 ex- 
pended in building mission chapels, we have the 
grand aggregate of $1,045,517 62. 

The summary of results for the fifty years ap- 



1 8 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

pears as follows, it being borne in mind that the 
full records only cover a period of forty-two years, 
the practice of reporting being first systematically 
arranged in 1835. 

Years of missionary labor - 1,104 

Missionary visits -- 2,104,751 

Tracts in English and other languages distributed 42,720,893 

Bibles and Testaments supplied to the destitute - 86,052 

Volumes loaned - 166,851 

Children gathered into Sabbath-schools 109,317 

Children gathered into day-schools 2 3>3°3 

Persons gathered into Bible-classes 14,274 

Persons induced to attend church 223,085 

Temperance pledges obtained 50,054 

Religious meetings held - 110,927 

Persons restored to church-fellowship 3>°74 

Persons hopefully converted — 21,650 

Converts united with evangelical churches 12,972 

From these records it will appear that the hope- 
ful conversions have averaged 500 per year, which 
would make an aggregate of 25,000 hopeful conver- 
sions for the entire period of fifty years. And for 
the same length of time there have been 300 addi- 
tions to the churches each year, making an aggre- 
gate of 15,000 added during the fifty years. And 
the amount expended in carrying on the operations 
of the Society has averaged $20,000 a year, which, 
for the fifty years, makes a total of $1,000,000. 

In this historical review notice should be made 



HISTORICAL. 19 

of the work of the Female Branch. It appears that 
the incipient steps in the formation of this auxil- 
iary were taken in consultations held at the house 
of Mrs. Divie Bethune (daughter of Isabella Gra- 
ham) in 1822. The Constitution was reported and 
organization completed in its first public meeting, 
which was held in the Brick Church Chapel, Park 
Row, March 25, 1822. In 1827 it was resolved, in 
view of the extent of the field presented before the 
Female Tract Society, and the great need of in- 
creased effort, to employ a woman, at least for part 
of her time, as an agent ; and this resolution was 
immediately acted upon, and a woman was appoint- 
ed, who, at the end of her first month's labor, re- 
ported visits to ninety families and calls upon sev- 
eral clergymen in reference to forming auxiliary 
tract associations in their churches. This may be 
said to have been the first step in woman's work in 
city missions. But the idea thus originated seems 
to have been of slow growth, and no further defi- 
nite action in that direction appears upon the rec- 
ords until the year 1854, when a good woman, who 
had shown great zeal and skill as a volunteer tract 
visitor, was employed at a small salary to devote 
her whole time to systematic visitation among the 
poor and needy; and within a year or two other 



20 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

women were set to work, until 1856, when there 
were four regularly employed. 

In -1863, the Female Branch, whose contribu- 
tions had previously gone to the payment of the 
bills for the tracts used in distribution, resolved 
that henceforth their work should be directed to 
the raising of money for the support of the mission- 
ary women. 

In 1875, the Female Branch was reorganized; 
the Board of Managers constituted five of their 
number an Executive Committee, to give particular 
attention to the business details ; and a Superin- 
tendent was appointed, to give instruction and direc- 
tion to the missionary women, receive applications 
for appointment, write up the history of the work, 
address appeals to the benevolent ladies of the city, 
etc. Within the two years that have elapsed, the 
amount of contributions and the number of mis- 
sionaries have been doubled. And during the last 
year a house has been taken, where the missiona- 
ries may have the comforts of a home and enjoy the 
benefits of proper supervision, and a systematic 
training for their work. 

Having thus presented an historical statement of 
the successive steps in the organization of the New 
York City Mission and Tract Society, from the 



HISTORICAL. 21 

beginning, in 1827, and exhibited some of the re- 
sults of the fifty years that have elapsed, it is be- 
lieved that the friends of the cause will find herein 
occasion for devout thanksgiving to Almighty God 
for his providential care of the work and the work- 
men, and for the blessing that has followed their 
labors, and will be encouraged still to continue to 
them their generous confidence and support. The 
City Mission of to-day is settled substantially on 
the same basis of Christian union and cooperation 
as at: the first, and has the same object in view, 
viz., the evangelization of the people not otherwise 
reached by the churches. It is the auxiliary of the 
churches, going out after those ready to perish. It 
is the helper o£ the churches in a most difficult and 
yec necessary work, and should receive the liberal 
aid of all the friends of Christ. 

Pastors and churches of various denominations 
have frequently testified to the economy and effi- 
ciency of this instrumentality, and the Presbytery 
of New York, representing the majority of the 
friends and supporters of this Society, unanimously 
passed the following resolution : 

''The Presbytery of New York, recognizing the New York 
City Mission and Tract Society as an important auxiliary of 
the church for carrying the gospel to the destitute, would commend 
the same to the confidence of the churches, and bespeak for it the 
prayers and active cooperation of all." 



22 GOSPEL WORK IX NEW YORK. 

The work of the Society, as now arranged, com- 
prehends Gospel Services, Gospel Temperance 
Meetings ; Sabbath-Schools, Bible-Classes, Read- 
ing-Rooms, and various auxiliary contrivances, all 
aiming at the one grand design of making the 
gospel known to the multitudes of men, women, 
and children not otherwise reached by the 
churches. 

At the present time a fresh interest is manifest 
in the condition of the poor in tenement-houses, 
and renewed efforts are being made in the way of, 
I. Improving Tenement-Houses, and 2. Providing 
Missionary Nurses for the Sick Poor. 

Another project is that of Workingmen's Clubs, 
designed, not to add to the charities of New York, 
but to furnish workingmen with healthy moral, 
Christian forms of entertainment and instruction, 
and places of resort where they may be free from 
the vicious and degrading influences of the drink- 
ing places. And still another scheme is to give 
men out of work a chance to help themselves, by 
purchasing a farm convenient to the city, and set- 
ting them to work thereon. The laborers in City 
Missions constantly see their work growing in im- 
portance, and believe that it is intimately connect- 
ed with all the best interests of society, and deserves 



HISTORICAL. 23 

the earnest, thoughtful consideration and hearty 
support of every good citizen. 

To disarm Communism, to expose the errors of 
Rationalism and Materialism, is needed the widest 
diffusion of that practical Christianity which teaches 
all men to bear one another's burdens, directs the 
strong to help the weak, and commands us to fulfil 
the law of Christ, who received publicans and sin- 
ners, and was the considerate friend of those who 
were ignorant and out of the way 

The City Mission, as the representative of the 
churches, is going down into the depths of poverty 
and ignorance and vice, and is daily illustrating, in 
its deeds of love and sympathy, the unselfish spirit 
of the gospel, and furnishing fresh arguments for 
the truth of Christianity, and new proofs of its 
Divine origin and power. And as the churches 
shall continue to support and strengthen this in- 
strumentality will its means and appliances be made 
effective for dispersing the darkness of ignorance 
and sin and error, and leading souls into the light 
of life. 



24 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

II. 
sLMYirE'RSA'RIES OF TUB CITT MISSIOJV. 

1828, February 6, Wednesday evening. The 
first Anniversary held in the Masonic Hall, Broad- 
way, near Pearl street, opposite the New York Hos- 
pital. The President Mr. Zechariah Lewis, Rev. Mr. 
Stanford, Dr. John Stearns, Mr. Gerard Hallock, 
Mr. Zephaniah Piatt, Rev. W. A. Hallock, Rev. C. 
P. Mcllvaine, Mr. Timothy Hedges, and Rev. Dr. 
James Milnor participated in the proceedings. 

1829, February 4, Wednesday evening. The 
second Anniversary held in the Masonic Hall, 
Broadway, near Pearl street. The President Mr. 

r Zechariah Lewis, Rev. Cyrus Mason, Mr. Alfred 
Edwards, Mr. Gerard Hallock, Rev. H. G. Ludlow, 
Mr. Jeremiah Evarts, Rev. T. E. Vermilye, Rev. 
W. A. Hallock, and Rev. David Temple participa- 
ted in the services. 

1830, February 3, Wednesday evening. The 
third Anniversary held in the Masonic Hall, Broad- 
way, near Pearl street. Dr. John Stearns, Vice- 
President, Rev. Cyrus Mason, Rev. W. A. Hallock, 
Mr. Lewis Tappan, Mr. Sidney E. Morse, Rev. Dr. 



ANNIVERSARIES OF THE CITY MISSION. 25 

Jacob Brodhead, Rev. Benjamin H. Rice, Rev. Dr. 
Gardiner Spring, Rev. Dr. John Knox, Rev. Will- 
iam Patton, and Rev. Dr. Thomas De Witt partici- 
pated in the proceedings. 

1 83 1, April 18, Monday evening. The Fourth 
Anniversary held in the Masonic Hall, Broadway, 
near Pearl street. The President Mr. Zechariah 
Lewis, Rev. W. A. Hallock, Mr. Sidney E. Morse, 
Rev. Peter Stryker, Rev. Dr. James Milnor, Rev. 
Sylvester Woodbridge, Mr. Lewis Tappan, and 
Rev. Dr. Samuel H. Cox participated in the pro- 
ceedings. 

1 832, March 14, Wednesday evening. The Fifth 
Anniversary held in the Masonic Hall, Broadway, 
near Pearl street. The Rev. A. Maclay, Rev. W. 
A. Hallock, Mr. S. E. Morse, Rev. Charles Hyde, 
Mr. S. B. Halliday, Rev. Joel Parker, Rev. Charles 
G. Sommers, Rev. Dr. Robert McCartee, Mr. A. 
Van Sinderen, Rev. O. Eastman, Rev. Edward 
Beecher, and Rev, Benjamin H. Rice participated 
in the proceedings. 

1833, March 13, Wednesday evening. The sixth 
Anniversary held in the Chatham Street Chapel, 
Chatham, near Pearl street. The President Mr. 
Zechariah Lewis, Rev. Dr. John Knox, Mr. Jesse 
Talbot, Mr. J. F. Robinson, Rev. Dr. Mc Murray, 



2 6 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

Mr. Edward Probyn, Rev. Dr. D. C. Lansing, Rev. 
B. C. Cutler, Rev. Win. Patton, Mr. Moses Allen, 
and Rev. Dr. Woodbridge took part in the proceed- 
ings. 

1834, April 16, Wednesday evening. The Sev- 
enth Anniversary was held in the Chatham Street 
Chapel. The President Mr. Zechariah Lewis, Rev. 
Dr. Thomas McAuley, Rev. O. Eastman, Mr. J. F. 
Robinson, Rev. David Bernard, Rev. Dr. Thomas 
De Witt, Rev. Mr. Green, Rev. H. G. Ludlow, and 
Rev. S. Woodbridge took part in the services. 

1835, March 11. The Eighth Anniversary was 
held in the Chatham Street Chapel. The Presi- 
dent Mr. Zechariah Lewis, Rev. C. G. Finney, Rev. 
O. Eastman, Mr. J. F. Robinson, Rev. William G. 
Miller, Rev. Asa D. Smith, Rev. William Adams, 
Rev. E. P. Barrows, and Rev. Dr. Samuel H. Cox 
took part in the services. 

1835, December 23. The Ninth Anniversary 
was held in the Chatham Street Chapel. The 
President Mr. Zechariah Lewis, Rev. Wm. G. Mil- 
ler, Mr. Alfred Edwards, Rev. Charles Hyde, Rev. 
Henry A. Rowland, Rev. E. F. Hatfield, Rev. M. S. 
Hutton, Rev. S. Woodbridge, and Rev. Dr. Gar- 
diner Spring took part in the services. 

1836, December 22. The Tenth Anniversary 



ANNIVERSARIES OF THE CITY MISSION 27 

was held in the Broadway Tabernacle, Broadway- 
near Leonard street. The President Mr. Zechariah 
Lewis, Rev. Dr. John Knox, Mr. Alfred Edwards, 
Rev. O. Eastman, Rev. Sylvester Woodbridge. 
Rev. James W. McLane, Rev. W. R. Williams, 
Rev. E. N. Kirk, and Hon. Theodore Frelinghuysen 
took part in the services. 

1837, December 20, Wednesday evening. The 
Eleventh Anniversary was held in the Broadway 
Tabernacle. The President Mr. Zechariah Lewis, 
Rev. Dr. Isaac Ferris, Mr. Alfred Edwards, Rev. 
O. Eastman, Rev. S. Woodbridge, Rev. Stephen 
Remington, Rev. J. W. Cooke, Rev. Silas Illsley, 
Rev. William Adams, Hon. J. S. Buckingham, and 
Rev. Dr. Thomas De Witt took part in the services. 

1838, December 19, Wednesday evening. The 
Twelfth Anniversary was held in the Broadway 
Tabernacle. Mr. S. V. S. Wilder, Rev. Dr. Thomas 
De Witt, Rev. O. Eastman, Mr. Alfred Edwards, 
Rev. Isaac Orchard, Rev. Aaron Perkins, Rev. Dr. 
John Knox, Rev. David R. Downer, Rev. Dr. James 
Milnor, and Rev. Dr. Breckenridge took part in 
the services. 

1839, December 18, Wednesday evening. The 
Thirteenth Anniversary was held in the Broadway 
Tabernacle The Hon. Theodore Frelinghuysen, 



-3 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

President, Rev. Dr. George Potts, Mr. Wm. Walk- 
er, Rev. 0. Eastman, Rev. Isaac Orchard, Rev. W. 
W. Everts, Rev. Dr. Theodore E. Vermilye, Rev. 
E. N. Kirk, and Rev. Dr. James Milnor took part 
in the services. 

1840, December 23. The Fourteenth Anniver- 
sary was held in the Broadway Tabernacle. The 
President Hon. Theodore Frelinghuysen, Rev. 
Henry Chase, Rev. O. Eastman, Mr. William 
Walker, Rev. Isaac Orchard, Rev. John O. Choules, 
Rev. M. S. Hutton, and Rev. Dr. Joel Parker took 
part in the services. 

1841, December 22, Wednesday evening. The 
Fifteenth Anniversary was held in the Broadway 
Tabernacle. The President Hon. Theodore Freling- 
huysen, Rev. E. W. Andrews, Mr. William Walker, 
Rev. R. S. Cook, Rev. Isaac Orchard, Rev. Elisha 
Tucker, Rev. E. S. Janes, Rev. William Adams, 
and Rev. Dr. Isaac Ferris took part in the ser- 
vices. 

1842, December 21, Wednesday evening. The 
Sixteenth Anniversary was held in the Broadway 
Tabernacle. The President Hon. Theodore Freling- 
huysen, Rev. Dr. W. W. Phillips, Mr. William 
Walker, Rev. R. S. Cook, Rev. Isaac Orchard, and 
Rev. David Bellamy took part in the services. 



ANNIVERSARIES OF THE CITY MISSION 29 

1843, December 20, Wednesday evening. The 
Seventeenth Anniversary was held in the Broadway 
Tabernacle. Mr. W. B. Crosby, Vice-president, 
Rev. Elisha Tucker, Mr. Wm. Walker, Rev. O. 
Eastman, Rev. Isaac Orchard, Rev. Dr. Noah Lev- 
ings, Rev. James L. Hodge, Rev. Dr. John Scudder, 
and Rev. Geo. B. Cheever took part in the services. 

1844, December 18, Wednesday evening. The 
Eighteenth Anniversary was held in the Broadway 
Tabernacle. The President the Rev. Dr. James 
Milnor, Rev. Dr. Thomas De Witt, Mr. William 
Walker, Rev. R. S. Cook, Rev. Isaac Orchard, Rev. 
Edward Lathrop, Rev. George Peck, Rev. Charles 
H. Read, and Rev. E. N. Kirk took part in the ser- 
vices. 

1845, December 17, Wednesday evening. The 
Nineteenth Anniversary was held in the Broadway 
Tabernacle. Mr. Wm. B. Crosby, Vice-president, 
Rev. Dr. James W. Alexander, Mr. Wm. Walker, 
Rev. R. S. Cook, Rev. Isaac Orchard, Rev. John 
Dowling, Rev. Dr. M. S. Hutton, Rev. Dr. William 
Adams, Rev. Edward T. Taylor, and Rev. Dr. 
Thomas McAuley took part in the services. 

1846, December 16, Wednesday evening. The 
Twentieth Anniversary was held in the Broadway 
Tabernacle. The President Rev. Dr. Thomas De 



So GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

Witt, Rev. Dr. George Peck, Mr. William Walker, 
Rev. R. S. Cook, Rev. Isaac Orchard, Rev. S. A. 
Corey, Rev. Daniel Smith, Rev. Dr. Stephen H. 
Tyng, and Rev. W. W. Everts took part in the ser- 
vices. 

1847, December 15, Wednesday evening. The 
Twenty-first Anniversary was held in the Broadway 
Tabernacle. The President Rev. Dr. Thomas De 
Witt, Rev. Dr. Gardiner Spring, Mr. Wm. Walker, 
Rev. R. S. Cook, Rev. Isaac Orchard, Rev. Ira R. 
Steward, Mr. Hiram Ketchum, and Rev. Henry 
Ward Beecher took part in the services. 

1848, December 20, Wednesday evening. The 
Twenty-second Anniversary was held in the Broad- 
way Tabernacle. The President Rev. Dr. Thomas 
De Witt, Rev. R. S. Cook, Mr. William Walker, 
Rev. Isaac Orchard, Rev. George F. Kettell, Rev. 
Dr. George W. Bethune, and Rev. Dr. Dill took 
part in the services. 

1849, December 19, Wednesday evening. The 
Twenty-third Anniversary was held in the Broadway 
Tabernacle. The President Rev. Dr. Thomas De 
Witt, Rev. D. W. Clark, Mr. William Walker, Rev. 
R. S. Cook, Rev. Isaac Orchard, Rev. E. L. Ma- 
goon, Hon. Theodore Frelinghuysen, and Rev. Dr. 
William Adams took part in the services. 



ANNIVERSARIES OF THE CITY MISSION. 31 

i85o, December 18, Wednesday evening. The 
Twenty-fourth Anniversary was held in the Broad- 
way Tabernacle. The President Rev. Dr. Thomas 
De Witt, Mr. William Walker, Rev. R. S. Cook, 
Rev. Isaac Orchard, Rev. Dr. James B. Harden- 
bergh, and Rev. Hugh Smith Carpenter took part 
in the services. 

185 1, December 17, Wednesday evening. The 
Twenty-fifth Anniversary was held in the Broadway 
Tabernacle. The President Rev. Dr. Thomas De 
Witt, Rev. William Bannard, Mr. William Walker, 
Rev. R. S. Cook, Rev. Isaac Orchard, Rev. James 
R. Stone, Rev. R. S. Foster, and Rev. Dr. Asa D. 
Smith took part in the services. 

1852, December 15, Wednesday evening. The 
Twenty-sixth Anniversary was held in the Collegi- 
ate Reformed Dutch Church, Lafayette place, cor- 
ner of Fourth street. The President Rev. Dr. 
Thomas De Witt, Rev. Dr. William Adams, Mr. 
William Walker, Rev. R. S. Cook, Rev. Isaac 
Orchard, Rev. Isaac Westcott, Rev. E. O. Haven, 
Rev. J. S. Lord, and Rev. G. L. Prentiss took part 
in the proceedings. 

1853, December 14, Wednesday evening. The 
Twenty-seventh Anniversary was held in the Colle- 
giate Reformed Dutch Church, Lafayette place, cor- 



32 • GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

ner of Fourth street. Rev. Dr. Isaac Ferris, Vice- 
President, Rev. J. M. Reid, Mr. William Walker, 
Rev. O. Eastman, Rev. Isaac Orchard, Rev. A. D. 
Gillette, Rev. Theodore L. Cuyler, and Rev. A. A. 
Wood took part in the services. 

1854, December 13, Wednesday evening. The 
Twenty-eighth Anniversary was held in the Collegi- 
ate Reformed Dutch Church, Lafayette place, cor- 
ner of Fourth street. The President Rev. Dr. 
Thomas De Witt, Mr. William Walker, Rev. Dr. W. 
A. Hallock, Rev. Isaac Orchard, Rev. A. D. Gillette, 
Rev. J. M. Reid, and Rev. Dr. R. S. Storrs, Jr., 
took part in the services. 

1855, December 19, Wednesday evening. The 
Twenty-ninth Anniversary was held in the Collegi- 
ate Reformed Dutch Church, Lafayette place, cor- 
ner of Fourth street. The President Rev. Dr. 
Thomas De Witt, Rev. Dr. E. F. Hatfield, Mr- 
William Walker, Rev. R. S. Cook, Rev. Isaac 
Orchard, Rev. Joseph Banvard, Rev. Dr. John 
Thomson, and Rev. Hiram Mattison took part in 
the services. 

1856, December 21, Sabbath evening. The 
Thirtieth Anniversary was held in the Reformed 
Dutch Church, Washington square. The Rev. Dr. 
Thomas De Witt, Mr. William Walker, Rev. O. 



ANNIVERSARIES OF THE CITY MISSION. 33 

Eastman, Rev. Isaac Orchard, Rev. Dr. George W. 
Bethune, and Rev. Dr. Jesse T. Peck took part in 
the services. 

1857, December 20, Sabbath evening. The 
Thirty-first Anniversary was held in the Madison 
Square Presbyterian Church. The Rev. Dr. Will- 
iam Adams, Vice-President, Rev. Edward Lathrop, 
D. D., Mr. S. W. Stebbins, Rev. Isaac Orchard, 
Rev. Dr. John McClintock, and Rev. H. D. Ganse 
took part in the services. 

1858, December 19, Sabbath evening. The 
Thirty-second Anniversary was held in the Madison 
Square Presbyterian Church. The President Rev. 
Dr. Thomas De Witt, Rev. Dr. William Adams, 
Mr. William Walker, Mr. A. R. Wetmore, Rev. 
Isaac Orchard, Hon. W. C. Alexander, and Rev. A. 
Kingman Nott took part in the services. 

1859, December 18, Sabbath evening. The 
Thirty-third Anniversary was held in the Collegi- 
ate Reformed Dutch Church, Fifth avenue and 
Twenty-ninth street. The President Rev. Dr. 
Thomas De Witt, Rev. Dr. Thomas E. Vermilye, 
Mr. A. R. Wetmore, Rev. Dr. Edward Lathrop, 
and Rev. Dr. W. J. Hoge took part in the ser- 
vices. 

i860, December 16, Sabbath evening. The 

Gospel Work. £) 



34 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

Thirty-fourth Anniversary was held in the South 
Reformed Church, Fifth avenue and Twenty-first 
street. The President Rev. Dr. Thomas De Witt, 
Rev. Dr. John M. McAuley, Mr. William Walker, 
Mr. A. R. Wetmore, Rev. Thomas S. Hastings, 
Rev. Frederick G. Clark, and Rev. Dr. William 
Hague took part in the services. 

1 86 1, December 15, Sabbath evening. The 
Thirty-fifth Anniversary was held in the Madison 
Square Presbyterian Church. The President Rev. 
Dr. Thomas De Witt, Rev. Dr. Asa D. Smith, Mr. 
Wm. Walker, Mr. A. R. Wetmore, Rev. Dr. Rob- 
ert R. Booth, Rev. Dr. H. G. Weston, and Rev. Dr. 
Wm. Adams, took part in the services. 

1862, December 21, Sabbath evening. The 
Thirty-sixth Anniversary was held in the Madison 
Square Presbyterian Church. The President Rev. 
Dr. Thomas De Witt, Rev. Dr. Wm. Adams, Mr. 
Wm. Walker, Mr. A. R. Wetmore, Rev. H. B. 
Ridgaway, Rev. Joseph T. Duryea, and Rev. Dr. 
Thomas D. Anderson, took part in the services. 

1863, December 20, Sabbath evening. The 
Thirty-seventh Anniversary was held in the Fifth 
Avenue Presbyterian Church, Fifth avenue and 
Nineteenth street. The Rev. Dr. N. L. Rice, Vice- 
president, Rev. Thos. S. Hastings, Mr. Wm. Walk- 



ANNIVERSARIES OF THE CITY MISSION. 35 

er, Mr. A. R. Wetmore, Rev. H. D. Ganse, and 
Rev. Alfred Cookman, took part in the services. 

1864, December 14, Wednesday. The Thirty- 
eighth Annual Meeting- for reports and elections 
was held in the Mission Rooms, Bible House. The 
Anniversary services were held on Sabbath even- 
ing, December 18, in the South Reformed Church, 
Fifth avenue and Twenty-first street. The Rev. 
Dr. N. L. Rice, Vice-president, Rev. Dr. W. G. T. 
Shedd, Mr. Lewis E. Jackson, and Rev. Dr. E. P. 
Rogers, took part in the services. 

1865, December 13, Wednesday. The Thirty- 
ninth Annual Meeting for reports and elections was 
held in the Mission Rooms, Bible House. The 
Anniversary services were held in the Fourth Ave- 
nue Presbyterian Church, Sabbath evening, De- 
cember 17. The President, Rev. Dr. Thomas De 
Witt, Rev. Dr. James O. Murray, Mr. Lewis E- 
Jackson, and Rev. Dr. Howard Crosby, took part in 
the services. 

1866, December 12, Wednesday. The Fortieth 
Annual Meeting for reports and elections was held 
in the Mission Rooms, Bible House. A series of 
meetings were held in various churches during the 
year, and an Anniversary was held during the anni^ 
versary week, in May, in Irving Hall. 



36 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

1867, December 11, Wednesday. The Forty- 
first Annual Meeting for reports and elections was 
held in the Mission Rooms, Bible House. 

1868, December 16, Wednesday. The Forty- 
second Annual Meeting for reports and elections 
was held in the Mission Rooms, Bible House. 

1869, December 15, Wednesday. The Forty- 
third Annual Meeting for reports and elections was 
held in the Mission Rooms, Bible House. 

1870, December 14, Wednesday. The Forty- 
fourth Annual Meeting for reports and elections 
was held in the Mission Rooms, Bible House. 

1871, December 13, Wednesday. The Forty- 
fifth Annual Meeting for reports and elections was 
held in the Mission Rooms, Bible House. Anni- 
versary exercises were held the following Sabbath 
evening in the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, 
Fifth avenue and Nineteenth street. And during 
the several years preceding there were many public 
meetings held in various churches, making known 
the plans and operations of city missions. 

1872, December 11, Wednesday. The Forty- 
sixth Annual Meeting for reports and elections was 
held in the Mission Rooms, Bible House. 

1873, December 10, Wednesday. The Forty- 
seventh Anniversary was held in Association Hall, 



ANNIVERSARIES OF THE CITY MISSION. 37 

Fourth avenue and Twenty-third street. The Pres- 
ident Rev. Dr. Thomas De Witt, Mr. A. R. Wet- 
more, Rev. George L. Shearer, Mr. Morris K. 
Jesup, Rev. George J. Mingins, Rev. Dr. John 
Hall, Rev. Dr. Joseph T. Duryea, Hon. Wm. E. 
Dodge, and Rev. Dr. Charles S. Robinson, took 
part in the services. 

1874, December 16, Wednesday. The Forty- 
eighth Annual Meeting for reports and elections 
was held in the Mission Rooms, Bible House. And 
on the Sabbath evening following, December 20, 
anniversary services were held in the Broadway 
Tabernacle Church; the Rev. Dr. T. W. Chambers, 
Rev. Dr. Wm. M. Taylor, Rev. Dr, John Hall, and 
others, participating. 

1875, December 15, Wednesday. The Forty- 
ninth Annual Meeting for reports and elections was 
held in the Mission Rooms, Bible House. On the 
Sabbath afternoon following, December 19, a ser- 
mon on City Evangelization was preached by the 
Rev. Dr. R. S. Storrs in the Fifth Avenue Presby- 
terian Church. 

1876, December 13, Wednesday. The Fiftieth 
Anniversary was held in the Fourth Avenue Pres- 
byterian Church ; the President Mr. A. R. Wet- 
more, Rev. Dr. J. M. Stevenson, Mr. L. E. Jackson, 



3S GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

Rev. Dr. Wm. Ormiston, Rev. G. L. Shearer, Mr. S. 
B. Schieffelin, Mr. Z. S. Ely, Rev. S. B. Halliday, 
Mr. O. R. Kingsbury, Mr. Stephen Cutter, Rev. 
Richard Horton, Rev. George Hatt, Rev. Dr. Chas. 
S. Robinson, Rev. Dr. W. J. Tucker, and Rev. E. 
D. Murphy, participating in the services. 



III. 
TEAR ST TBA'E. 

7827. 

FIRST YEAR. 
President.— ZECHARIAH LEWIS. 
Corresponding Secretary.— GERARD HALLOCK. 
RESULTS. 
Distributed 592,127 tracts. 
Receipts, $2,090 86. 

7828. 

SECOND YEAR. 
President— ZECHARIAH LEWIS. 
Corresponding Secretary. —GERARD H ALLOC K. 

RESULTS. 

Distributed 530,299 tracts. 
Receipts, $1,543 35- 

7829. 

THIRD YEAR. 

President— ZECHARIAH LEWIS. 

Corresponding Secretary.— SIDNEY E. MORSE. 
RESULTS. 
Distributed 593,683 tracts. 
Receipts, $3,382 79. 



YEAR BY YEAR. 39 

7830. 

FOURTH YEAR. 
President— ZECHARIAH LEWIS. 
Corresponding Secretary.— SIDNEY E. MORSE. 

RESULTS. 
Distributed 930,250 tracts. 
Expended $5,673 03. 

7837. 

FIFTH YEAR. 

President.— ZECHARIAH LEWIS. 
Corresponding Secretary— SIDNEY E. MORSE. 

RESULTS. 

Distributed 622,374 tracts. 
Expended $2,802 66. 

7832. 

SIXTH YEAR. 

President.— ZECHARIAH LEWIS. 

Corresponding Secretary.— J OHN CLEAVELAND. 

RESULTS. 

Distributed 428,734 tracts. 
Expended $5,218 78. 

7833. 

SEVENTH YEAR. 

President.— ZECHARIAH LEWIS. 
Corresponding Secretary.— JAMES F. ROBINSON. 

RESULTS. 

Distributed 412,128 tracts. 

Expended $1,733 4& 

A Missionary employed part of the year. 



40 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

783Z-. 

EIGHTH YEAR. 

President— ZECHARIAH LEWIS. 
Corresponding Secretary.— JAMES F. ROBINSON. 

RESULTS. 
Distributed 396,429 tracts. 
Expended $3,361 73. 
Missionaries employed. 

7835. 

ninth year — (part of year). 
President— ZECHARIAH LEWIS 
Corresponding Secretary.- J AMES F. ROBINSON. 



Distributed 312,375 tracts. 

Expended $6,816 32. 

Fourteen Missionaries employed. 

1835. 

ninth year (part of year). 
President— ZECHARIAH LEWIS. 
Corresponding Secretary.— REV. CHARLES HYDE. 

RESULTS. 

Distributed 674,966 tracts. 

Expended $9,138 39. 

Fifteen Mcssionaries employed. 

In 1S35 there were two Annual Meetings held ; the first, March 
it, 1835; and the other, December 23, 1835, and from the last 
date onward the Annual Meeting has been held in December, and 
is now fixed by the Charter for the Wednesday following the sec- 
ond Monday in December in each year. 



YEAR BY YEAR. 41 

7836. 

TENTH YEAR. 

President.— ZECHARIAH LEWIS. 

Corresponding Secretary.— JAMES F. ROBINSON. 

RESULTS. 

Distributed 747,324 tracts. 

Expended #10,562 Si. 

Sixteen Missionaries employed. 

7837. 

ELEVENTH YEAR. 

President— ZECHARIAH LEWIS. 

Corresponding Secretary— A. R. WETMORE. 
RESULTS. 
Distributed 679,193 tracts. 
Expended $10,229 l 9- 
Fifteen Missionaries employed. 

7838. 

TWELFTH YEAR. 

President.— HON. THEO. FRELINGHUYSEN. 
Corresponding Secretary.— A. R. WETMORE. 

EESULTS. 

Distributed 842,806 tracts. 

Expended $10,655 °5- 

Fourteen Missionaries employed. 

7839. 

THIRTEENTH YEAR. 

President.— HON. THEO. FRELINGHUYSEN. 
Corresponding Secretary.— A. R. WETMORE. 

RESULTS. 

Distributed 764,053 tracts. 

Expended $10,607 l o. 

Fourteen Missionaries employed. 

GoBpel Work. Q 



42 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

78Z-0. 

FOURTEENTH YEAR. 

President.— HON. THEO. FRELINGHUYSEN. 

Corresponding Secretary.— A. R. YVETMORE. 
RESULTS. 
Distributed 684,599 tracts. 
Expended $10,607 IO - 
Fourteen Missionaries employed. 

FIFTEENTH YEAR. 

President.— HON. THEO. FRELINGHUYSEN. 

Corresponding Secretary.— A. R. WETMORE. 
RESULTS. 
Distributed 732,155 tracts. 
Expended $11,075 oa 
Fourteen Missionaries employed. 

18&2. 

SIXTEENTH YEAR, 
President— REV. JAMES MILNOR, D. D. 
Corresponding Secretary.— A. R. WETMORE. 

RESULTS. 
Distributed 778,614 tracts. 
Expended $9,981 61. 
Fourteen Missionaries employed. 

7868. 

SEVENTEENTH YEAR. 

President.— REV. JAMES MILNOR, D. D. 

Corresponding Secretary.— A. R. WETMORE. 
RESULTS. 
Distributed 848,571 tracts. 
Expended $9,783 62. 
Fourteen Missionaries employed. 



YEAR BY YEAR. 43 

EIGHTEENTH YEAR. 

President.— KEY. JAMES MILNOR, D. D. 
Corresponding Secretary.— A. R. WETMORE. 

RESULTS. 

Distributed 862,088 tracts. 

Expended $10,065 3 1 - 

Seventeen Missionaries employed. 

1865. 

NINETEENTH YEAR. 

President.— KEY. JAMES MILNOR, D. D. 

Corresponding Secretary.— A. R. WETMORE. 
RESULTS. 
Distributed 1,001,853 tracts. 
Expended $11,266 56. 
Eighteen Missionaries employed. 

186 6. 

TWENTIETH YEAR. 

President— REV. THOMAS DE WITT, D. D. 
Corresponding Secretary.— A. R. WETMORE. 
RESULTS. 

Distributed 1,024,170 tracts. 
Expended $11,750 99. 
Nineteen Missionaries employed. 

184-7. 

TWENTY-FIRST YEAR. 

President.— REV. THOMAS DE WITT, D. D. 
Corresponding Secretary. — A. R. WETMORE. 
RESULTS. 

Distributed 1,252,123 tracts. 

Expended $13,997 70. 

Twenty Missionaries employed. 



44 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

f84&. 

- TWENTY-SECOND YEAR. 
President.— KEY. THOMAS DE WITT, D. D. 
Corresponding Secretary.— A. R. WETMORE. 

RESULTS. 

Distributed 1,308,433 tracts. 

Expended §12,675 49- 

Twenty Missionaries employed. 

1869. 

TWENTY-THIRD YEAR. 
President.— KEV. THOMAS DE WITT, D. D. 
Corresponding Secretary.— A. R. WETMORE. 
RESULTS. 
Distributed 1,631,890 tracts. 
Expended $13,049 12. 
Twenty-one Missionaries employed. 

?850. 

TWENTY-FOURTH YEAR. 

President.- -REV. THOMAS DE WITT, D. D. 
Corresponding Secretary.— A. R. WETMORE. 

RESULTS. 

Distributed 1,786,279 tracts. 
Expended $13,649 46. 
Twenty-six Missionaries employed. 

?85/. 

■ TWENTY-FIFTH YEAR. 

President.— REM. THOMAS DE WITT, D. D. 

Corresponding Secretary.— A. R. WETMORE. 

RESULTS. 

Distributed 1,579,756 tracts. 
Expended $15,776 76. 
Twenty-six Missionaries employed. 



YEAR BY YEAR. 45 

7852. 

TWENTY-SIXTH YEAR. 

President.— KEY. THOMAS DE WITT, D. D. 
Corresponding Secretary.— A, R. WETMORE. 

RESULTS. 

Distributed 1,359,403 tracts. 

Expended $16,531 25. 

Twenty-eight Missionaries employed. 

7853. 

TWENTY-SEVENTH YEAR. 

President.— KEN. THOMAS DE WITT, D. D. 
Corresponding Secretary.— A. R. WETMORE. 

RESULTS. 

Distributed 1,777,173 tracts. 
Expended $17,722 18. 
Twenty-six Missionaries employed. 

7854-. 

TWENTY-EIGHTH YEAR. 

President.— REV. THOMAS DE WITT. D. D. 
Corresponding Secretary.— A. R. WETMORE. 

RESULTS. 

Distributed 1,523,947 tracts. 
Expended $16,879 °7- 
Twenty-six Missionaries employed. 

7855. 

TWENTY-NINTH YEAR. 

President.— KEV. THOMAS DE WITT, D. D. 

Corresponding Secretary.— A. R. WETMORE. 
RESULTS. 
Distributed 1,257,458 tracts. 
Expended $16,464 58. 
Thirty Missionaries employed. 



GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 
7856. 

THIRTIETH YEAR. 

President.- -REV. THOMAS DE WITT, D. D. 
Corresponding Secretary.— A. R. WETMORE. 

RESULTS. 
Distributed 1,183,671 tracts. 
Expended $17,483 63. 
Twenty-eight Missionaries employed. 

7867. 

THIRTY-FIRST YEAR. 

President.— -REV. THOMAS DE WITT, D. D. 
Corresponding Secretary.— K. R. WETMORE. 

RESULTS. 

Distributed 1,115,654 tracts. 
Expended $17,986 36. 
Thirty Missionaries employed. 

1858. 

THIRTY-SECOND YEAR. 

President.— KEN. THOMAS DE WITT, D. D. 

Corresponding Secretary.— A. R. WETMORE. 
RESULTS. 
Distributed 1,075,323 tracts. 
Expended $17,378 15. 
Thirty Missionaries employed. 

7859. 

THIRTY-THIRD YEAR. 

President.— KEY. THOMAS DE WITT, D. D. 

Corresponding Secretary— A. R. WETMORE. 
RESULTS. 
Distributed 1,016,931 tracts. 
Expended $17,109 96. 
Twenty-eight Missionaries employed. 



YEAR BY YEAR. 47 

I860. 

THIRTY-FOURTH YEAR. 

President.— REV. THOMAS DE WITT, D. D. 
Corresponding Secretary.— A. R. WETMORE. 



Distributed 1,200,051 tracts. 

Expended $17,227 92. 

Thirty-two Missionaries employed. 



186/. 

THIRTY-FIFTH YEAR. 

President— REV. THOMAS DE WITT, D. D. 
Corresponding Secretary.— A. R. WETMORE. 

RESULTS. 

Distributed 1,013,783 tracts. 

Expended $17,202 79. 

Thirty-four Missionaries employed. 

1862. 

THIRTY-SIXTH YEAR. 

President.— REV. THOMAS DE WITT, D. D. 
Corresponding Secretary.— A. R. WETMORE. 



Distributed 1,112,264 tracts. 
Expended $18,100 00. 
Thirty-four Missionaries employed. 



48 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

7863. 

THIRTY-SEVENTH YEAR. 

President— REV. THOMAS DE WITT, D. D. 

Corresponding Secretary.— A. R. WETMORE. 

RESULTS. 

Distributed 1,006,901 tracts. 
Expended $21,855 OI - 
Thirty-four Missionaries employed. 

At the Annual Meeting, December 20, 1863, Mr. Lewis E. 
Jackson was appointed the Corresponding Secretary. 

186&. 

THIRTY-EIGHTH YEAR. 
President.— REV . THOMAS DE WITT, D. D. 
Corresponding Secretary.— LEWIS E. JACKSON. 

RESULTS. 

Eleven Mission Stations. 

Thirty-seven Missionaries. 

Expended $26,477 59- 

At the Annual Meeting, December 14, 1864, the name of the 
Society was changed to that of the New York City Mission 
and Tract Society. 

7865. 

thirty-ninth year. 
President.— KEN . THOMAS DE WITT, D. D. 
Corresponding Secretary.— LENNY'S E. JACKSON. 

results. 
Eleven Mission Stations. 
Forty-three Missionaries. 
Expended $29,064 28. 



YEAR BY YEAR 49 

1866. 

FORTIETH YEAR. 

President.— KEN. THOMAS DE WITT, D. D. 
Corresponding Secretary.— LEWIS E. JACKSON. 
Suftof Missions.— KEY. GEORGE J. MINGINS. 

RESULTS. 

Fourteen Mission Station. 
Forty-five Missionaries. 
Expended $36,108 42. 

The Society incorporated, February 19, 1866. 
Lebanon Chapel opened, 1866. 

Rev. George J. Mingins appointed Superintendent of Missions, 
1866. 

7867. 

FORTY-FIRST YEAR. 
President— REV. THOMAS DE WITT, D. D. 

Corresponding Secretary. —LEWIS E. JACKSON. 

Suft of Missions.— -REV. GEORGE J. MINGINS. 
RESULTS. 
Fourteen Mission Stations. 
Forty-six Missionaries. 
Expended $44,691 79. 
Olivet Chapel opened, 1867. 

7868. 

FORTY-SECOND YEAR. 

President.— REV. THOMAS DE WITT, D. D. 

Corresponding Secretary.— LEWIS E. JACKSON. 
Suft of Missions.— KEY. GEORGE J. MINGINS. 

RESULTS. 
Twelve Mission Stations. 
Forty-two Missionaries. 
Expended $46,245 18. 

Gospel AVoik. ,_ 



50 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

1869. 

FORTY-THIRD YEAR. 

President— REV. THOMAS DE WITT, D. D. 
Corresponding Secretary.— LEWIS E. JACKSON. 
Suft of Missions.— REV. GEORGE J. MINGINS. 

RESULTS. 

Ten Mission Stations. 
Forty Missionaries. 
Expended $53,iSS 26. 

7870. 

FORTY-FOURTH YEAR. 

President.— REV. THOMAS DE WITT, D. D. 
Corresponding Secretary— -LEWIS E. JACKSON. 
Suft of Missions.— REV. GEORGE J. MINGINS. 

RESULTS. 
Seven Mission Stations. 
Forty Missionaries. 
Expended $50,556 86. 
Calvary Chapel opened, 1870. 

The Christian Ordinances administered in the Mission Chapel 
1870. 

f87f. 

FORTY-FIFTH YEAR. 

President.— R-EV. THOMAS DE WITT, D. D. 
Corresponding Secretary.— LEWIS E. JACKSON. 
Suft of Missions.— REV. GEORGE J. MINGINS. 

RESULTS. 
Seven Mission Stations. 
Forty Missionaries. 
Expended $51,030 77. 



YEAR BY YEAR. 
7872. 

FORTY-SIXTH YEAR. 

President— KEY. THOMAS DE WITT D. D. 
Corresponding Secretary.— LEWIS E. JACKSON. 
Suft of Missions.— REV. GEORGE J. MINGINS. 

RESULTS. 

Seven Mission Stations. 
Forty Missionaries. 
Expended $48,622 99. 
Carmel Chapel opened, 1872. 

7873. 

FORTY-SEVENTH YEAR. 

President— REV. THOMAS DE WITT, D. D. 
Corresponding Secretary.— -LEWIS E. JACKSON. 
Suft of Missions.— KEN. GEORGE J. MINGINS. 

RESULTS. 
Seven Mission Stations. 
Forty Missionaries. 
Expended $42,687 28. 
De Witt Chapel opened, 1873. 

187&. 

FORTY-EIGHTH YEAR. 

President— KEY. THOMAS DE WITT, D. D. 
Corresponding Secretary.— LEWIS E. JACKSON. 
Suft of Missions.— KEY. GEORGE J. MINGINS. 

RESULTS. 
Six Mission Stations. 
Thirty Missionaries. 
Expended $42,687 28. 
Rev. Thomas De Witt, D. D., President, died 1874. 



52 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

7875. 

FORTY-NINTH YEAR. 

President— A. R. WETMORE. 
Corresponding Secretary.— LEWIS E. JACKSON. 
Snft of Missions.— KEN. GEORGE J. MINGINS. 
Suft of Female Department.— MRS. A. R. BROWN. 

RESULTS. 

Five Mission Stations. 

Thirty Missionaries. 

Expended $39,669 96. 

Rev. George J. Mingins, Superintendent, resigned 1875. 

7876. 

FIFTIETH YEAR. 

President.— A. R. WETMORE. 

Corresponding Secretary.— LEWIS E. JACKSON. 
Suft of Female Department— MRS. A. R. BROWN. 

RESULTS. 

Five Mission Stations. 
Thirty-two Missionaries. 
Expended $37,819 11. 

AGGREGATE. 

EXPENDITURES BY DECADES. 

1827 to 1837 $41,761 39 

1837 to 1847 104,833 35 

1S47 to 1857 - 148,496 60 

1857 to 1S67 199,805 £9 

1867 to 1877 450,620 59 

$945,517 62 
Building fund ioo.oco 00 

$i,°45>5 1 7 62 
Equal to 020,000 per year for the whole period of fifty years, and 
for the last ten years, presenting an average of $50,000 per year. 



TRACTS DISTRIBUTED. 53 



IV. 



TRACTS DISTRIBUTE® A.JVT) MOJYET 
EXTENDS®. 

Distributed. Expended. 

1827 -- 1st year — 592,127 tracts $2,090 86 

1S2S 2d " 53°> 2 99 " 1.543 35 

1829 3d " 593.683 " 3.382 79 

1S30 4th " 93 .25 " 5. 6 73 03 

1831 5th " 622,374 " 2,80266 

1832 6th " 428,734 " 5,218 78 

1833 "-- 7th " 412,128 " - 1,733 48 

1834 8th " 396,429 " 3.36i 73 

1835 9th " 987,341 " 15,954 7i 

1836 10th " 747,324 " 10,56281 

1837 nth " --- 679,193 " 10,229 19 

1838 12th " 842,806 " 10,655 °5 

1839-- 13th " 764,053 " 10,607 J o 

1840 - 14th " — 684,599 " 10,607 IO 

1841-- 15 th " 73 2 , x 55 " 11,07500 

1842 16th " 778,614 " 9,981 61 

1S43 17th " -- 848,571 " 9,783 62 

1S44-- iSih " 862,088 " 10,065 3 1 

1845 19th " 1,001,853 " 11,266 56 

1846 20th " --1,024,170 " — n,75o 99 

1S47 21st " -1,252,123 " 13,997 70 

1848 -22d " 1,308,433 " 12,675 49 

1849 23d " 1,631,890 " 13,049 12 

1850 24th " 1,786,279 " 13,649 46 

1851 25th " 1,579,756 " - 15,776 76 

1852 26th " 1,359,403 " 16,531 25 



54 GOSPEL WORK IN XEW YORK. 

Distributed. Expended. 

1S53 27th year 1, 777,173 tracts -17,722 18 

1S54 2Sth " 1,523-947 " 16,879 07 

1S55 29th '* ---1,257,458 " 16,464 58 

1856 30th " 1,183,671 " 17,483 63 

157- -31st " 1,"5,654 " 17,98636 

1858 32d " 1,075,323 " I 7>378 15 

1859 33d " 1,016,931 " 17,10996 

i860 34th " 1,200,051 " 17,227 92 

1S61 -35th " - 1,013,783 " 17,202 79 

1S62 36th " 1,112,264 " ---18,100 CO 

1S63- 37th " 1,006,901 " 21,855 OI 

1S64 38th " 1,112,264 " 26,477 59 

1S65-- 39th " 1,006,901 " 29,064 28 

1866 40th " 1,076,779 " 36,io8 42 

1867 41st " i,oo7,S8i " 44,691 79 

1S6S 42d " -1,310,756 " 46,245 18 

1S69 43d " 1,175,000 " " 53' lSS 26 

1S70 44th " i,i5 I -394 " 50,556 86 

1S71 45th " 1,000,539 " 51,030 77 

1S72 46th " 848,259 " 48,622 99 

1S73 47 th " 802,136 " 42,687 28 

1S74 4Sth " 669,176 " 42,687 28 

1S75 49th " 675,000 " -39,669 96 

1S76 50th " 750,000 " 37,8i9 1I 

Aggregating nearly fifty millions of copies of tracts — not pages; 
and over one million of dollars ; an average of one million of 
tracts for every year, with an annual expenditure of $20,000 for 
missionary work. 



PLANS AND METHODS. 55 

V. 
TZAJYS AJV3) METHODS. 

Pastors and laymen are continually calling upon 
us for information as to the means and instrumen- 
talities we employ in carrying forward the work of 
city evangelization ; and we cordially invite them 
to our missionary conferences, and throw open the 
doors of our office and our mission rooms and 
chapels, and give them every opportunity of a per- 
sonal examination and study. In our reports and 
documents, and through the press in various ways, 
we are seeking to give the Christian public at large 
the results of our experience and observation. 

In this line we now proceed to give some 
extracts from the recent report of a lay missionary, 
in which he presents a summary of his labors for 
fourteen years, believing that this inside view of 
the missionary work of a single laborer, for a series 
of years, will not be without encouragement to those 
engaged in similar operations, and will afford matter 
of interest to all. This missionary says that during 
this period of fourteen years he has given 364 
Bibles to different families, and many of these have 
learned to love the word of God. He says of one : 



56 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

" A Roman-catholic woman who had received a 
copy of the Bible hid it through the day, but when 
night came, and the board shutters of her casement 
windows were closed, her boy read to her out of the 
book that told her of the way of life, and she drank 
in of the precious truth with gladness. Another 
woman of the same faith, to whom I read Christ's 
sermon on the Mount sprang to her feet, and 
stopped me several times, exclaiming ' Oh how beau- 
tiful ! how beautiful ! I did not know that this 
was in the Bible.' 368 Testaments have been 
given, mostly to children attending Sabbath-school 
who had no Testaments of their own from which to 
learn their lessons. I have purchased from time to 
time, as occasion required, with my own means, 
such cheap religious books as I thought would be 
useful, and I find I have given away 242 of such 
volumes. I can trace several conversions to the 
reading of these precious books. One of the annual 
subscribers to the City Mission, who is a worthy 
member and an officer in one of the churches, was 
thus led to Christ. 1,257 children have been gath- 
ered into Sabbath-schools. Some of these were 
brought in by paid help, employed by the missionary 
to canvass certain localities which he was not able 
to do himself. A number of these children have 



PLANS AND METHODS. 57 

grown up and become members of Protestant 
churches. Others are in places of trust and profit, 
good and upright citizens. Others, still, are teach- 
ing in Mission Sabbath-schools, where there are 
scholars. 376 children have been persuaded to go 
to the public day-schools, and some of these are 
now teachers in the schools where they were first 
placed as pupils. 184 young persons have been 
induced to join Bible classes, and of these some are 
now preaching the gospel of Christ. 660 persons 
have been persuaded to attend church. One of 
this number said : 

" ' I have not been to church in twenty-two years.' 

Another said : ' Mr. , you are the first man that 

ever prayed in my family.' 130 temperance 
pledges have been obtained. Some very intemper- 
ate persons, nearly ruined, have been saved from 
the vice of drunkenness, and brought to true repen- 
tance and faith in Christ. As I am only a layman 
I have held no preaching services, distinctively so 
called, but I have conducted 1,413 prayer-meetings, 
in various tenement houses, in eleven different lo- 
calities, and I cannot now think of any one meet- 
ing-place in which there were not some souls saved. 
In one house a meeting was held weekly for five 
years, in the room of a sick woman, who has re- 



53 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

covered her health and been baptized into the 
spirit of our city missionary work. Fifty-six backsli- 
ders have been reclaimed. The most of these came 
from the Old World. They were members of chur- 
ches in good standing at home. Families emigrated, 
part at a time, and those who came first left the 
Bible and religious books with those who remained 
behind. Here, among strangers, and not at once 
seeking a home in some church, they were gradu- 
ally drawn into worldliness, and at length were found 
with the pleasure-seeking and Sabbath-breaking 
crowd. The city missionary going from house to 
house finds these wandering sheep, and by love and 
kindness wins them back to the Good Shepherd. 
I have made 42,000 visits to the widow and father- 
less, the poor, the rich, and the dying; and it 
cheers me beyond expression to think how many 
persons in these visits I have had an opportunity 
of pointing to Jesus ; and how many, from their 
cold garret and damp cellar-homes, looked away to 
the Saviour of sinners, and to the mansions and 
crowns and white robes reserved for those who are 
faithful unto death. In these missionary visits I 
have been cordially received, with very few excep- 
tions. Even the Romanist has listened attentively 
while I have talked to him about the only Saviour, 



PLANS AND METHODS. 59 

the only Mediator between God and man. And 
when I have prayed with him, he has asked God to 
bless me, and has said, 'You are the only man 
that ever prayed with me.' A scene occurred during 
one of these missionary visits I shall never forget. 
After praying with a poor sick Roman-catholic 
woman, she said : ' My priest never visited me but 
once, and then he went away angry because I had 
sent for him when I had no money to pay him, and 
he said he would never come again.' I cannot tell 
with what delight, and with what faith and hope, 
too, I pointed that poor, ignorant, dying woman to 
Jesus, the great High Priest who always cares when 
helpless sinners call, and who forgives without 
money and without price. She lived a few days 
after this, and left her dying charge with a neigh- 
bor in these words : ' Tell the man who prayed for 
me that I die, trusting in the great High Priest, 
who forgives sins without money.' This was pay 
enough for a life of missionary toil. 213 hopeful 
converts have united with Evangelical churches, 
and I have good reason to believe that many 
more, through our instrumentality, have been 
led to Jesus. Some persons, during their last ill- 
ness, have given credible evidence of conversion, 
though we do not include such cases in our statis- 



60 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

tics. I remember an instance of hopeful conver- 
sion on a sick-bed ; a sick man had long been visit- 
ed, and constantly directed to Jesus as his only- 
Saviour, till he felt the comforting influence of the 
Holy Spirit bearing witness of his acceptance. 
Then came a priest, and told him he was dying, 
and that he would go directly to hell, if he did not 
allow the offices of the church to be performed. The 
sick man said : ' I will risk it : I cannot sink. I feel 
the everlasting arms beneath me. Jesus saves me.' 
" During the single year just passed — and this is 
a specimen of many of these fourteen years I have 
been reviewing — no families have been aided, and 
$244 have been expended in their assistance. The 
principal part of this money has been put into my 
hands by a gentleman and his wife for this purpose. 
While preparing this report I have been twice to 
the attic home of a worthy American widow, who 
was very comfortably off during her husband's life- 
time. Since then she has struggled to support 
herself and four little ones by making pants for 37-i 
cents a pair. I carried her what money she lacked 
of the rent and a basket of provisions. She said, 
'I am afraid I cannot feed and clothe my children 
and pay the rent any longer; I shall have to put 
the three elder children into the Half-Orphan 



PLANS AND METHODS. 61 

Asylum.' This is the class of persons we aid, and 
this is the way in which we try to help them along. 
The amount of money given to any one family has 
been small, but it has been accompanied by a per- 
sonal visit, when sad hearts have been met by sym- 
pathy and kindness, and they have been led to think 
of the Father in heaven, and have been taught and 
encouraged to pray as well as labor for their daily 
bread." 

Thus far the report of our faithful, laborious 
missionary. Now let us add, that the City Mission 
has, on its records, the results of one thousand 
years of such missionary labor. That out of the 
investigations and observations of these humble 
visitors of the poor, have grown many of the most 
valuable and beneficial charities and reforms. The 
work, begun with a single man, forty-five years 
ago, has gone on, constantly increasing in numbers 
and influence. Now there are as many as 266 city 
missionaries in connection with the various mis- 
sions and churches, who make 800,000 visits a year. 
And there are 118 mission schools and chapels, 
whose preaching and other religious and moral ser- 
vices, for adults or children, or both, are regularly 
carried on. And there are 300 religious, moral, 
and charitable societies and institutions. 



02 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

The work of city evangelization, multifarious as 
it may be in its aspects, and special in its local 
adaptation, is yet a unit in design, one and the same 
everywhere and always, to bring sinners to Jesus. 

Our plans may be briefly summed up in these 
few lines. The city missionary canvasses a given 
district ; ascertains its available points ; finds out 
the accessible families ; wins his way by kindness 
and tact ; establishes a prayer-meeting. The Holy 
Spirit owns the effort. Souls are converted. These 
bring in others. The place becomes too strait. A 
mission chapel is called for. Some of the Lord's 
stewards make an offering to the Lord for his love 
to them, and soon the mission building is reared 
and dedicated to Jesus for his glory, and given to 
the people for their Sabbath home. A minister is 
appointed, and the Christian ordinances are admin- 
istered, and the converts bound together in a broth- 
erhood of love. And now the same work of search- 
ing out, and bringing in, and saving, goes on as at 
the beginning. The poor are always moving. The 
tenement houses are always changing, and yet 
always full. The ranks of the poor and unfortunate 
are refilled every day. And the city missionary's 
work is never done. 



A MISSIONARY REPORT. 63 

VI. 
ci MISSIONARY RETORT. 

" On a dark, cold winter night, a man was found 
leaning against a tree on the Battery, sobbing aloud. 
On inquiry, it was found that on the morning of 
that day — for it was the Sabbath — he had been to 
our mission, and there, by the Holy Spirit, through 
the truth preached, he was convicted of sin. Such 
was the distress of his mind, that he was obliged to 
leave his boardinghouse to seek a place to weep 
and pray. It appeared that the sermon brought to 
his mind the teachings of his godly mother, and the 
remembrance of the past broke his heart. The 
missionary gave such counsel and sympathy as 
were needed. Soon after the man left for Boston, 
and a letter since received announces that he has 
united with the church. 

" A man from Rhode Island, who had been sep- 
arated from his family two years by his intemperate 
habits, became so deeply impressed at the mission, 
that he returned to his boardinghouse and sought 
the Lord on his knees until two o'clock the next 
morning, when God spoke peace to his soul. 

" A profane, intemperate German was persuaded 



64 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

to attend the mission meeting. He was brought 
under conviction. A Testament and tracts were 
given him. And by these united means he was 
converted, and is now useful in the Lord's vine- 
yard. 

"A sick woman said, 'Two years ago I was in 
your chapel, and there I was led to see myself a 
sinner. I did as I was told to do. I went to Jesus, 
and I found in him all that my soul needed. Eigh- 
teen months ago I united with the church. I am 
not afraid to die.' The next day she went to be 
with Jesus, whom she loved. 

"An immigrant on his way to P., stopping in 
at our mission, was seriously impressed by reading 
one of the placard hymns on the walls of the mis- 
sion, and the words, 'Don't reject him!' went as 
an arrow to his heart. He felt he was guilty of 
rejecting Christ. He rose for prayer, determined 
not to live so any longer. Two days after he called 
to tell of his new-found hope in Christ. 

"Visiting a boardinghouse, two men were seen, 
who said, ' One year ago, as we were passing through 
the city, we attended your mission. We were there 
convicted of our sin, and this was followed by con- 
verting grace. We are now members of the church 
in the place where we reside. We have come to 



WHA T IT COSTS. 65 

New York to meet friends expected from Eng- 
land.' 

"A Romanist, who has lately united with a 
Protestant church, said, ' Before coming to the mis- 
sion I worshipped God through saints and angels ; 
but now I have Christ as my Priest and Mediator.' 
Another Romanist, while prayer was offered on his 
behalf, found peace to his soul." 

And so the work goes on. We go from house 
to house, compelling the people to come in to our 
mission. We gather the children into our mission 
Sabbath-schools. We have the preaching of the 
gospel twice every Sabbath. We have our prayer- 
meetings through the week. We scatter tracts 
everywhere. And God blesses our work. To him 
be all the glory. 

VII. 

WMjL t it costs. 

" It costs more than it will come to," used to 
be the fatal objection with the thoughtful and pru- 
dent. In most human affairs the outgoes and in- 
comes may be calculated with remarkable cer- 
tainty. In spiritual matters as well, there is a ba- 
sis of calculation, only the result is not always di- 
rectly within reach of ordinary human estimate. 

Gospei Work. 9 



66 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

Here are eight years and $4,000 expended in 
educating a young man for the ministry. What 
the returns will be we may safely estimate from 
well-ascertained facts. Here are $300,000 laid out 
in erecting a church, and the probable results 
scarcely leave room for conjecture in the presence 
of reliable data. Just now, in a well-considered 
paragraph in a religious newspaper, my eye caught 
these lines : " It costs more per man to make 
a Christian in London or in New York than 
it costs in heathendom." My first thought was, 
Well, what if it does ? Does it cost more than it 
comes to? I can think of some of our mission 
converts, now preaching the Gospel in various 
places, the cost of whose conversion does not raise 
a question as to its economy. But then, looking 
into the reports of two Foreign Missionary organi- 
zations, I find that it costs $500 to $1,000 to make 
a Christian in heathendom, as the phrase is. 

The records of the City Mission show that in 
fifty years the total expenditure has been $1,000,000, 
or $20,000 per year, and that, for the same period, 
the hopeful conversions have been 25,000, or 500 
per year. If you divide $1,000,000 by 25,000 you 
will have $40, as the average cost of a convert. 



PERSONAL EFFORT. 67 

VIII. 

TE'RSOJV'ji.Z EFFORT. 

The city missionaries are constantly laboring to 
promote the cause of temperance on Christian prin- 
ciples. Impelled by love, and armed with truth, 
they go from day to day among the homes of the 
poor, and in every way that Christian ingenuity 
can devise seek to save man from the evils of in- 
temperance. 

One of these faithful men, a little while ago, 
was laid up a few days with illness. One evening 
while he was confined to his bed, the door-bell rang, 
and the call being answered, it was found that a 
man had come, bringing a rose-bush in full-bloom 
to give to the missionary as a token of his grateful 
regard for what had been done for him. And what 
had been done for him ? Simply this, and nothing 
more : the missionary had found the man, with a 
wife and two little children, in the depths of poverty 
and degradation, and all through the intemperate 
habits of the husband and father. The missionary 
visited the family frequently, and manifested a true 
Christian sympathy, and won the man's confidence 
and respect, so that he listened respectfully to his 
counsel and advice. He accompanied the mission- 



6S GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

ary to the temperance meeting, and there voluntari- 
ly signed the pledge, and resolutely turned his back 
on his old companions and his evil ways. He has 
found business again, and is supporting his family, 
and promises well. 

This incident is only given as an illustration of 
the hand-to-hand and heart-to-heart work of the 
City Mission. It is by personal effort for indi- 
viduals that souls are saved. We do not know how 
to save masses. But every day shows us how men 
are saved. The returns of the City Mission for 
the last month give us ninety temperance pledges 
obtained, and twenty-nine hopeful conversions. 
This may seem to some like slow work, but it is 
sure. And the extension of this work is only lim- 
ited by the men and the means. Given a sufficient 
number of faithful missionaries and an adequate 
supply of means, and the results would be multi- 
plied accordingly. 

IX. 

fRZriTFUZNBSS OF FRUIT. 

It is only philosophical that when one sick man 
has been cured, he should tell his neighbor of bis 
physician and the remedy. And it is perfectly 



FRUITFULNESS OF FRUIT. 69 

natural that a soul who has found the balm of Gilead, 
and the good physician there, should publish abroad 
what grace has done, and persuade others to try the 
same. The records of City Missions furnish many 
illustrations in point. A man living far from God, 
who had not been to church in twenty years, is 
brought under the influence of the truth ; he finds 
in the chapel practical sympathy and kind con- 
sideration and pleasant society, and becoming a new 
man in Christ Jesus, he at once goes after his 
neighbor, and brings him to the place of prayer. 
And, now and then, these converts become mission- 
aries and evangelists and preachers of the gospel, 
and are made instrumental in leading scores and 
hundreds to Christ. So the fruit of Christian effort 
for souls goes on, endlessly multiplying itself to all 
eternity. 

A poor Swede came into a chapel, and was there 
taken by a brotherly hand and made to feel at home. 
He soon was found among the seekers and inqui- 
rers, and was led along by degrees until he emerged 
into the light and liberty of the gospel. He became 
an ardent student in the school of Christ, and ad- 
vanced rapidly in grace and knowledge. The good 
pastor of the chapel, discovering in his convert un- 
mistakable signs of promise, encouraged and aided 



;o GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

his progress, and soon he was in a course of prep- 
aration for the ministry, and at length was duly- 
ordained to preach the gospel. Returning to his 
native country with a burning zeal for souls, he 
soon was enabled to kindle a sacred enthusiasm 
among his people, which led to gracious spiritual 
revivals, and the establishment of a training-school 
and theological seminary in Stockholm, Sweden, 
which is sending out qualified teachers of the truth 
every year. 

The annual report of the City Mission for 1859 
makes mention of the fact, that four years before, 
or in 1855, the City Missionary laboring among the 
Jews discovered a poor, friendless Jew, and took 
him to his home and befriended him. Subsequently 
this man was led to embrace the truth as it is in 
Jesus, and commenced a course of study, with the 
purpose of entering upon the ministry of the gospel, 
and in 1859 he was sent forth by the church with 
which he was connected as a missionary to China. 
His linguistic knowledge and studious habits led 
the missionary brethren on the ground to commit 
to his hand the work of translation, and for several 
years he has been engaged in the same. How he 
has performed the part assigned him may be judged 
of in the following extract from a report on the 



HOPE FOR DRUNKARDS. 71 

subject: "The Old Testament has been translated 
by him out of the original Hebrew into a language 
understood by a population four times as large as 
in all the United States. This work, of itself, is 
one of the grandest monuments which the human 
mind has ever erected, and it is one of the noblest 
trophies of missionary zeal and learning." 

This man, whose learning and diligence are so 
conspicuous in making the Mandarin Bible, has 
been consecrated a missionary bishop to China ; 
and this is the man who in 1855 was led to Christ 
by a City Missionary. And so the City Mission 
has been the agent in giving missionaries to Sweden 
and China. Who can measure the far-reaching 
results of Christian effort for souls ? How truly 
the poet has said : 

" The good begun by thee, shall onward flow, 
In many a branching stream, and wider grow." 



X. 

As much interest is everywhere felt in the 
reformation of drunkards, and in the operation of 
the asylums and homes established therefor, an 
extract of a letter just received from the Rev. J. 



72 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

Willett, the excellent and efficient superintendent 
of the Inebriates' Home for Kings county, is well 
worth attention. After briefly referring to the 
success and the failures, the lights and the shadows, 
the usual history of such work, Mr. Willett says : 

"I set out with my work, believing that the 
grace of God, which saved a wretch like me, knows 
no limits, and can reach the vilest sinner in the 
universe. Some of our patients have come and 
gone once, twice, and almost a dozen times to and 
from the Home, and when everybody seemed to 
have given them up in despair, the Saviour has put 
his hand upon them and caused them to sing, ' Oh 
to grace how great a debtor.' 

" But God usually works by means. We have 
to do with those whose system is diseased and 
poisoned by rum. There needs a physical regen- 
eration, and in many cases, especially when the 
brain is damaged and the will power has received 
a shock, long restraint is essential to cure and ref- 
ormation. Mere temporary expedients no doubt 
assuage a deal of present misery, but after all they 
seem only to bridge over the dangerous gulf from 
one debauch to another, without effecting much 
permanent good. .But oh if Christian men and 
women would only make one united effort to close 



HOPE FOR DRUNKARDS. 73 

the dramshops, nine-tenths of the drunkards of the 
land would disappear. 

" It is true that for a generation there would be 
the old topers to care for, and restrain, but the 
rising generation would be saved from this drink 
curse. 

"It has been clearly demonstrated, by carefully- 
collected statistics, that pauperism and crime are 
governed by the number of drinking-places in any 
given city, as compared with the population, and 
that, too, independent of all provisions which may 
be made for the education and religious training of 
the inhabitants. 

"When I was laboring as a City Missionary, I 
was sometimes distressed beyond measure at the 
thought that any one of the almost numberless rum- 
shops in my district was destroying more souls than 
I was made instrumental in saving." 

With this full understanding of all the difficul- 
ties of the situation, this faithful man, in the spirit 
of the divine Master perseveres in his arduous 
undertaking, and is permitted to see the fruit of his 
labor. In the Inebriates' Home for Kings county, 
pleasantly situated on the bay, near Fort Hamilton, 
there were treated last year 152 males and 87 
females. Total 239. Of the patients whose his- 

Gospel Work. 10 



74 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

tory can be traced, about one-fourth are known to 
be doing well. Others are improved, several are 
dead, and about one-third may be regarded as in- 
curable cases. 

It should be known that this is the only institu- 
tion of the kind in this state that admits female 
patients of the better class, and for these special 
accommodations are provided. Paying patients 
will be received from any part of the country. 
Free patients are only received, except in special 
cases, from Kings county. 

And it should be known to the City Mission- 
aries and laborers among the poor in New York, 
that there is an Inebriates' Home on Ward's Island, 
under the management of the Commissioners of 
Charities. Application for admission thereto, 
should be made at the office, No. 66 Third avenue. 
Patients who are willing and able to labor, will be 
admitted without charge, when they will be required 
to work for their living. Others pay from $3 to 
$25 per week for board, as may be agreed upon, 
and are not expected to labor. 

Homes for the care and cure of drunkards are 
being opened in Boston, Philadelphia, and in other 
cities, and much is being accomplished. At our 
Carmel Chapel in the Bowery, and at the Helping 



TRACT WORK. 75 

Hand in Water street, and indeed, we may say, at 
all the missions stations, the faithful City Mission- 
aries are using their utmost efforts to rescue men 
from the evils of intemperance. Let all good men 
pray for, and help on, these earnest self-denying 
laborers. 



XI. 

T2ZA.CT 7WRK. 

In the great revivals of 1830-5, tract visitors 
were conspicuously useful in inviting people to 
church, and in following them with prayer and effort. 
In 1836, Rev. Dr. E. F. Hatfield, then pastor 
of the Seventh Presbyterian Church, reviewing the 
labors of the previous season, wrote of these useful 
operations as follows : " On the first Sabbath of 
February last I gave notice that our house of wor- 
ship would be opened every evening in the week 
for divine service ; at the same time I requested 
the tract visitors to take the opportunity on the 
following day to distribute the monthly tract, and 
invite every family in their several districts to at- 
tend the meetings, or if they had already distributed 
the tract, to make a special visit for the purpose of 
persuading all to attend. In the course of the two 



70 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

or three following days, I have reason to believe 
that almost every family in the ward that was ac- 
cessible, and not connected with some other de- 
nomination, had thus received notice of the meet- 
ings, and been urged to attend. It pleased the 
Lord wonderfully to manifest his power at that 
season in saving souls by the preaching of the word. 
Not less than four hundred souls were converted 
to God, of whom about three hundred connected 
themselves with my church. Of those thus received, 
the great majority were heads of families, and very 
many of them strangers, persons who had only oc- 
casionally been seen in our church, and some of 
them scarcely once or twice a year. I have every 
reason to believe that many of them were induced 
to come by the urgency of the tract visitor, and 
many of them declared that such was the case ; 
indeed, during the whole month, these visitors, sev- 
enty or eighty in number, were abundant in labors." 
And in all the subsequent history of evangelis- 
tic movements, the same general plan of operations 
has been prosecuted. The formation of new asso- 
ciations, and the adoption of new methods, have 
somewhat modified the old ways of working, yet all 
Christian workers are led, sooner or later, to feel 
that it is personal effort — which is only another 



TRACT WORK. 77 

name for tract effort — that, after all, is to be relied 
upon as the most effective agency for bringing souls 
to Christ. 

The pastor of one of our city mission churches, in 
a recent report, says : " The spiritual influences 
abroad in the land have visited us with their bless- 
ings, awakening a new interest in the things of 
Christ's kingdom. Our meetings have been excep- 
tionally well attended, and those for social prayer 
and conference have been more generally partici- 
pated in. Many who never before have taken any 
part, have heartily spoken for Jesus, and to edifica- 
tion, and there has also been apparent a general 
earnestness in seeking the salvation of souls. In 
the matter of volunteer tract distribution, a new 
impulse has been imparted, so that the number en- 
gaged in this work has more than doubled during 
the past two months. All my experience in this 
work among the poorer classes encourages me in 
my labor, and I greatly esteem and value the zeal 
and cooperation of my faithful tract visitors." 



78 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

XII. 

SOir TO HBLT T&& TOOK. 

The city missionary is charged with the care of 
souls, and his first duty is to spread the good tidings 
of the gospel feast ; and wherever he goes among 
the poor and sick and afflicted and distressed, he 
desires to be known as a Christian teacher, making 
known the truth as it is in Jesus. With good judg- 
ment and ready tact he deals wisely with the appli- 
cations made for temporal relief, and applies such 
means as are committed to his hands for distribu- 
tion in such ways as will not only not hinder his 
more spiritual work, but will the rather more surely 
promote his success in the main business of deal- 
ing with souls. 

The past winter season has been exceptionally 
trying, in that cases of great physical suffering have 
abounded, and the means of affording relief have 
been seriously restricted, and the city missionary, 
as a burden-bearer, has been nearly overwhelmed 
with the sins and the sorrows he could not allevi- 
ate. How the city missionary labors at his spirit- 
ual work, and affords occasional relief to the poor 









HOW TO HELP THE POOR. 79 

without pauperizing them, may be seen in the fol- 
lowing extract from a recent report : " I found the 
wife of a man, once in prosperous circumstances, 
now living in an obscure basement. She was sick, 
which gave me the opportunity to proffer some 
needed delicacies, and the kindness so won upon 
the woman's confidence that she frankly told me of 
her husband's struggles, how hard they had strug- 
gled to keep up and conceal from their neighbors 
their real condition of want. It was a pleasure to 
minister to the necessity of those who would have 
suffered long in silence rather than make known 
the want which was pressing both her and her hus- 
band to the direst extremity. I had a very frank 
and candid conversation with the sick woman in ref- 
erence to the claims of religion, and she knew and 
acknowledged them, and professed her desire to 
become a Christian, and yet in a cautious way, that 
showed she did not wish to commit herself to the 
extent of promising what she did not in her heart 
feel determined to fulfil. My visits have been re- 
peated, and after awhile I ascertained that once she 
had hoped in Christ and had intended to join the 
church, but for some reason had delayed the duty. 
Now she is evidently concerned about her neglect 
and anxious to take a stand for Christ, and is look- 



So GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

ing forward with pleasure to the time when she will 
be publicly received into church fellowship. 

" A year ago I had become interested in a man 
who promised well, aided him in securing employ- 
ment, and thought he was getting along nicely, 
when he fell to drinking and soon lost his place, 
and neglected his family and disappointed all my 
hopes. During the season just past I had met this 
man a number of times, and on one or two occa- 
sions he had told me how hard he was struggling 
to get bread for his family, but had not asked me 
for aid, probably because of his consciousness of 
having abused the confidence I had reposed in him 
the previous winter. However, I met him again 
one day, and walked with him some distance, and 
had a very plain talk with him, telling him how 
much we had been disappointed in him in the expe- 
rience of the former winter. He confessed all, and 
more than all I had reproached him with, but said 
he had bitterly repented his misconduct, and was 
resolved never to taste liquor again. He appeared 
so humble and sincere, I accepted his confessions, 
and engaged to give him needed encouragement 
and help. He attended a prayer-meeting, and was 
strengthened in his good resolutions, and volunta- 
rily signed the temperance pledge, and gives every 



WHAT CAN I DO? 81 

indication of his determination to persevere. He 
frequently calls and expresses his gratitude for the 
good counsel given him, and speaks of his wonder- 
ful change, as he calls it. He feels as if he were in 
a new world. The prayer-meeting is his delight, 
the Bible is his daily guide, and he seems to be 
travelling in the paths of pleasantness and peace. 
He is supporting his family, and will soon be able 
to help others in distress. And this is the way that 
city missionaries aid the poor — helping them to 
help themselves ; and not only this, but showing 
them how to help others also. Self-help is the best 
help for the poor, and the soul of charity is charity 
for the soul." 



XIII. 
WHA T CjIJY I DO ? 

The question recurs, " What can I do ?" Much 
will depend on your age, sex, condition, advantages, 
the number and the kind of talents God has put 
into your hand. You must consider these, and lay 
out your capital to the best advantage. Let us 
mention some fields, and you can consider if there 
be any one of them you could cultivate. 

Your own family. Are all its members godly ? 

Gospel Work. 11 



82 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

Have they all a place in the church ? No ? Then 
you have a work at your door. Pray, reflect ; look 
for the side on which you can bring help. There 
is a child not receiving any teaching. There is a 
want of religious reading even for Sabbaths. The 
child could be got to Sabbath-school. A good se- 
rial could be got to tempt the careless to read. 
There is no regular attendance at church, no seat 
in a church perhaps. Could you manage to get this 
arranged ? There are servants in the house ? Are 
they Christians ? Or do you know anything about 
them ? Inquiry even might do good. Try all 
ways at home. A light is brightest to those who 
are closest to it. 

Your relatives — how is it with them ? Are they 
Christians ? All ? Some are not, not even being 
approached. Can you approach them with affec- 
tion, gentleness, at the right time, and in the right 
way ? Do you live so that they will respect you 
and attach weight to what you say ? Do you carry 
yourself so that they will love you ? You are the 
very person of all others, perhaps, to bring the 
truth to a cousin, an aunt, a nephew. Remember 
how Joseph provided bread for his brethren and 
their households, ill as they treated him. 

Who lives next door ? Are those neighbors to 



WHAT CAN I DO? 83 

whom you bow on the steps Christians ? Have 
they a pastor ? Do the children learn saving truth ? 
When they are sick, do you show them the gentle 
side of Christianity — that which it turns to the suf- 
fering ? Do you offer any comfort in sorrow ? They 
know you to be a Christian, perhaps. They must 
wonder that you have no care for their souls. Per- 
haps they think your religion is only a form. You 
will be and they will be at the judgment-day. What 
will there be to look back on of effort made for 
them ? 

In what congregation do you worship ? Is the 
minister ever cast down ? Are all the committees 
full and in good spirits ? Is there any part of the 
work falling behind ? Could you help it on ? You 
have some place already. Do you fill it effectively ? 
Do you really "take hold"? Are you doing your 
work with your might ? 

There are various "societies" around you. 
They find it hard to get working members of 
boards and committees. You would be amazed to 
learn how hard it is for some of them to get a quo- 
rum at meetings for business. They have "honor- 
ary members " and ornamental members, nominal 
members and contributing members, who give mon- 
ey and nothing else ; and secretaries have great 



84 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

trouble to contrive for the faithful doing of the busi- 
ness. Could you aid ? Do you help with your 
means ? To be sure, the societies are not all per- 
fect ; but they all do some and many of them much 
good that might not be done otherwise. 

" Who are with you in the office ?" Other 
young men do not fail to tell of the theatres, en- 
tertainments, and "sights" they enjoy. You have 
heard of their pleasures. Do you tell them with 
equal enthusiasm of yours ? They tell of their 
"good times," advertise their haunts, and commend 
their entertainers. Do you ? 

But you are a lady. Well, how are the poor 
neighbors around you ? Are there any girls likely 
to grow up without knowing the use of a needle ? 
Sewing-schools, free, once a week, taught by la- 
dies, and their toils with scissors and stitches re- 
lieved by a pleasant hymn and a Scripture verse, 
and consecrated by a prayer — which perhaps the 
poor little girls never joined in at home — such have 
done great good. 

Are there any rough boys around you, growing 
up in godlessness, getting ready for the peniten- 
tiary ? A Christian lady is just the person to do 
some of them good. Her sex wins deference, ex- 
cept from the worst ; and her gentleness softens 









WHA T CAN I DO ? 8 j 

them. Are there any poor, overworked mothers 
near you, to whom life is perpetual, unrelieved toil ? 
"Mothers' meetings" have done them good. They 
need not be large ; indeed a small meeting is often 
best, for you can get near their burdened hearts. 
They cannot go to church, or get dressed, or get 
their clothes settled, " for the children." There b 
a way of carrying the church and the truth and all 
Christian charities to them. 

Are there any near you, accessible to you, clear- 
ly going to ruin ? There is your neighbor's son 
learning to drink. You saw him reeling the other 
evening. " Run, speak to that young man." A 
timely word may save him. The woman who waits 
on you is becoming entangled in a bad association. 
She is your sister — fond of you, perhaps — will you 
let her go unwarned ? 

" Ah, but," you say, " it is so hard to do these 
things ; it requires a sacrifice." Just so. The 
Lord knows that. He says so : " With such sacri- 
fices God is well pleased." Rev. Dr. Hall. 



£6 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

XIV. 
THE SOUZ THAT STAJY&S NEXT TO YOU. 

It is disheartening to find now-a-days so many 
people on a strain. Everybody seems determined 
to do a big thing or nothing. One wants a fresh 
field ; one wants more scope ; another wants to try 
a new instrument. Whereas the field that is near- 
est is the best for anybody. Think of this vast 
world of ruin and sin all around us, actually touch- 
ing us at every point. How it welcomes even the 
least help which is honestly offered to it ! Did you 
ever lay your finger upon the edge of a bird's nest, 
when the mother was absent, and mark how blindly, 
but instinctively, those callow necks and open bills 
all stretched up towards you for food ? So the 
whole human race stands expectant. If you have 
any good to offer, it is folly to talk about a fresh 
field. There are a million hearts all round you that 
need it. And your earliest office is to aid the soul 
that stands next to you. 

Then as to more scope, it is enough to say that 
any one who is really in earnest can find all the 
organizations, all the appliances, all the helps he can 
possibly employ. I do not believe in those people 



THE SOUL NEXT TO YOU. 87 

who think, or assert, that the ordinary churches to 
which we all belong are Laodicean, or that they fail 
of their end. I have no confidence in such persons 
who grow busy in framing associations and organ- 
izing societies, but never get to work in real service. 
I feel anxious about the souls that stand next to 
them. I was struck with the wit and wisdom of a 
reply I once overheard. One of my ministerial 
brethren, of rare common sense, was asked what he 
thought about these new-fangled sisterhoods, pro- 
posed in certain quarters. He answered, " I think 
very well of the sisters, but I cannot say I admire 
the hoods." 

Also as to the instruments, one word of depre- 
cation is needed. Our Sunday-school conventions 
are full of models as the Patent-office is full of pat- 
terns. Even in grace I readily admit there may be 
economy of spiritual force in a measurable use of 
labor-saving machines. But one may learn a les- 
son from the satire of even Gulliver's Travels. The 
tailor in Laputa took the measure of his customers 
for a suit of clothes by trigonometry ; and yet it is 
not recorded that he escaped danger of a misfit. 
We may exhaust much valuable 'energy in mere 
friction of apparatus. And that is a most unhealthy 
movement, when it is discovered that helps have 



88 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

become hindrances. That is to say, every subter- 
fuge which occupies time and diverts attention to 
itself, so as to turn any Christian's effort away from 
commonplace personal work, and the quiet use of 
the Scriptural means, every excuse found in the un- 
welcomeness of the field, every delay forced by the 
search after a fresh way of doing things, is suspi- 
cious. Human endeavor will find spiritual reward 
best in laboring for the soul that stands next to us. 

Rev. C. S. Robinson, D. D. 



XV. 
doing owe's dzttt. 

Of one period of this old earth's history it stands 
recorded, " There were giants in those days." This 
certainly was before our time. The age we live in is 
not altogether heroic. But now and then there are 
stories in the papers of souls who die for right and 
die for duty. It flashes out in unanticipated brillian- 
cy, as a new truth, that fidelity to commonplace de- 
mands is a species of fine heroism. Thus some, whose 
lives or calling we deem homely, suddenly appear 
shining in the royal robes of a manhood unques- 
tioned. A soldier, the father of a family, the sena- 



DOING ONE'S DUTY. 8g 

tor of a state, puts his written order for an advance 
in his hatband, goes straight to what he knows is 
death, and in an hour lies silent with a bullet in his 
brain. An engineer sees a drawbridge open, and 
knows there is safety for those he bears in his train 
only by the sacrifice of his own life; one moment 
of decision ends it ; and, face upwards in the stream, 
with the locomotive crushing his chest, the simple- 
minded hero goes out in the silence, while the saved 
passengers waken with the shock that plants them 
across. And just now there rises on our kindled 
imagination the form of that sea-captain who went 
quietly forward, as the ship kept sinking, lifting the 
women over the side into boats, pistol in his hand, 
demanding obedience of the crew ; then at last his 
wife, six months a bride, is led over the ladder, and 
from the tossing thwart looks back for her last upon 
the form of her brave husband, and pleads to go on 
the deck again and die with him. The night is dark 
in the Channel, but no star ever glittered in gloom 
so brightly as that fine figure of manhood glistens 
in our remembrance when we think of him faithful 
to the" end. Somehow we feel constrained to iden- 
tify ourselves with such people. If there can be 
any funeral, we are bound to be there. We walk in 
the procession. We reverently lay hold of one cor- 

Grspel Work. 1 2 



90 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

ner of the pall. A common brotherhood claims us. 
Nor does the impression end in mere pitiful admi- 
ration. For all time thereafter, wherever the lan- 
guage is spoken, the pure become purer, the brave 
become braver, the manly become manlier. We 
straighten up to more height, like proud children, 
when our parents' names are repeated with praise. 
We walk with foreheads cleared of clouds, and 
actually begin to believe in men. 

In our times we have very little conception of 
what is meant by martyrdom of that savage and 
extreme kind which Stephen endured. Men estab- 
lished Christianity by dying for its confirmation. 
They are enabled now to commend it better by liv- 
ing for its spread. It is, therefore, not an ambition 
for us to cherish, even with high heroics, in these 
quieter days, when piety kept decorously has grown 
respectable, to advance to the edge of the precipice 
singing, and under the hail of stones dashing life 
into atoms, seek the presence of the blessed. Our 
privilege ought to be the dearer because it is really 
the more difficult to glorify God in some tame and 
commonplace way. Thus it comes to pass that 
holy living and brave dying are most intimately 
connected. There are modest men and gentle wom- 
en, all over this Christian world of ours, who day by 



DOING ONE'S DUTY. 91 

clay do duty as finely as ever Stephen did, and who, 
when the last day comes, peacefully make ready to 
die with all of his triumph, and yet none of his show. 
Indeed, few raptures of the deathbed are ever stri- 
king enough to be put into print. Most lamps go 
out quietly as the oil fails. And in the majority of 
instances it comes to pass that we have to ponder 
the sweet, dear record of unobtrusive excellence 
some little time before we fairly see that a great 
life has entered the shadows and is gone. He can 
hardly be considered a manly man who does not 
wish for this posthumous tribute of affectionate 
remembrance. How simple and bare are such 
words as these, perhaps spoken by some pall-bear- 
ers, " devout men," at our funeral : " He was a faith- 
ful man, and did his duty." Yet it seems as if they 
would make the cold face and heart stir in the 
coffin ! Oh, the beauty and glory of one's being 
dead, and yet speaking, so that what is honest and 
true and pure and gentle and Christlike is helped 

and encouraged. Rev. C. S. Robinson, D. D. 



92 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

XVI. 
TAKE A STAND. 

When Daniel went to Babylon, he took his 
stand ; the meat and the wine which were offered 
him he refused to eat. He knew that the wine had 
been offered up to idols, and he refused to partake 
of what had been thus polluted. He saw that the 
law of God and the law of the great king Nebu- 
chadnezzar were in conflict, but he obeyed the law 
of God. He was a man of faith and of belief. In ten 
days he looked healthier than any of those who ate 
as the king had ordered. He had taken his stand 
for God, and God blessed him. Young man, you 
that have just come to New York, is there not a 
lesson in this story for you ? Does your employer 
ask you to work on Sunday ? Take your stand. 
If God's law conflicts with man's, adhere to the liv- 
ing God. He will help you. You may have prom- 
ised that loving, praying mother of yours that you 
would not go to the theatre. Are you tempted to 
go ? Does some friend invite you and urge you to 
go with him ? Take your stand. Learn to say No. 
Yield with no compromise. It is this miserable, 
compromising spirit that ruins so many. Supposing 



TAKE A STAND. 93 

we, of these times, had been in Babylon when Dan- 
iel was tempted. Why, we 'd have advised some- 
thing like this : " Now, Daniel, you know you are 
not in Jerusalem. You 're a poor heathen captive" 
— now here's the advice of the Christianity of the 
nineteenth century — "you're in Babylon, Daniel, 
and do as the people of Babylon do. You know 
wine is better than water, and water wont agree 
with you. The water of the Euphrates will make 
you sick. We know that the wine has been offered 
to idols, but God will wink at it if you drink while 
you are down here." But, thank God, that man 
took his stand, and kept his faith. 

The king had a dream, and Daniel said, '' I '11 
tell the king's dream, only give me time." Ah, see 
what faith he had. He knew that God would keep 
him right. And that night he prayed long and 
faithfully that God would reveal the secret. He 
went to sleep and had a dream, in which God re- 
vealed the secret. He arose and went to the king 
and was asked if he could tell the dream. Daniel, 
with the same faith in God, said that his God was 
able ; he gave God all the glory. He told the king 
what he had dreamed, how his Chaldean kingdom 
would be overthrown and divided, how Greeks and 
Romans and others would overrun it and divide its 



94 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

possessions. "That's my dream," said Nebuchad- 
nezzar ; and an edict went forth, making Daniel a 
ruler among the mighty. But another trial came. 
The king ordered his image to be set up on the 
plains. There are three men there who will not bow 
down to it. They are Shadrach, Meshach, and 
Abed-nego. And the king is very angry, and 
orders the furnace to be heated seven times hotter. 
And when they came forth, with not so. much as a 
hair of their heads burned, another edict went forth, 
that any man who said anything against the God of 
Shadrach should incur the wrath of the king. Young 
man, will you take your stand as these men did ? 

D. L. Moody. 

XVII. 

3)AJYG£ft OF JVEGLECTIjYG OJVB C&IZ3). 

A remarkable case of criminal inheritance has 
been traced back during the past year by the New 
York Prison Association, showing the overwhelm- 
ing importance to the community of caring for even 
two or three vagrant children. 

About one hundred years ago, there lived on 
the borders of two or three forest lakes in Ulster 
county, New York, a little vagrant girl called " Mar- 
garet, and four sisters, some of whom were of ille- 



DANGER OF NEGLECTING ONE CHILD. 95 

gitimate birth. They seem to have been in no 
respect different from hundreds of little girls in and 
around this city who yearly come under the care of 
this Society. Their parents were poor, roving peo- 
ple, who made their living partly by hunting and 
fishing, and partly by stealing. They lived, like 
our poor city children, crowded in shanties, where 
old and young, male and female, slept in the same 
rooms. Like our street children, they never went 
to school or attended church. They grew up al- 
most untouched by the morality and religion of the 
day. In the winter they were aided by the out- 
door relief of the authorities, or by kind-hearted 
persons, and in the summer they lived on game 
and on their plunder from farms and barnyards. 
Probably as most people passed little Maragret, the 
future " mother of criminals," they looked on her 
as people do now on the little ragged street-sweep- 
ers they meet on our streets, either with utter in- 
difference or with hopelessness, as on an irreclaim- 
able vagabond, or with disgust, as one with whom 
the decent and virtuous should have nothing to do. 
The little Margaret grew up thus to a wicked 
womanhood. 

In a recent visit to the Kingston jail, the able 
official of the Association, Mr. Dugdale, came upon 



96 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

the following criminals, all of whom he found to 
belong to the same family : the oldest, a man fifty- 
five years of age, awaiting trial for receiving stolen 
goods ; his daughter, aged eighteen, (subsequently 
arrested as a prostitute,) held as a witness against 
him ; her uncle, aged forty-two, for burglary in the 
first degree ; the illegitimate daughter of the latter's 
wife, aged twelve years, upon which child he had 
attempted violence, and who was awaiting sentence 
for vagrancy, and two brothers, aged nineteen and 
fourteen, accused of an assault with intent to kill, 
they having pushed a child over a cliff forty feet 
high, and nearly killed him by the fall. 

He traced back the genealogy of these crimi- 
nals, and discovered that the ancestor of them all 
was the little vagrant girl of whom we have spoken, 
or her sisters. This stimulated his efforts, and 
after immense labor he finally brought to light the 
following striking facts as to this unhappy family: 

Seven hundred and nine (709) descendants of 
Margaret and her sisters are accurately tabulated, 
whose names are mainly taken from public records. 
Of these 91 are known to be illegitimate, and 368 
legitimate, leaving 250 unknown as to birth. One 
hundred and twenty-eight (128) are known to be 
prostitutes, 18 kept houses of bad repute, and 6j 



DANGER OF NEGLECTING ONE CHILD. 97 

were diseased, and therefore cared for by the public. 
Only 22 ever acquired property, and eight of these 
lost what they had gained. One hundred and for- 
ty-two (142) received out-door relief during an ag- 
gregate number of 734 years, 64 were in the alms- 
house of the county, and spent there an aggregate 
number of 96 years ; 76 were publicly recorded as 
criminals, having committed 115 offences, and been 
1 16 years in jails and prisons. 

The crimes of the females were licentiousness, 
and those of the males violence and theft. But the 
record we have quoted is merely their public histo- 
ry of criminality, which is necessarily very imper- 
fect. Great numbers of the offences of this 
wretched family were never entered on any court 
records, and hundreds were never even brought to 
trial. It is well known that this young " mother of 
criminals" and her sisters have poured a stream of 
disease, licentiousness, insanity, idiocy, pauperism, 
and crime over the county now for a hundred 
years. This fearful current has not yet ceased to 
flow, as some of the descendants in the sixth gen- 
eration survive in our own House of Refuge. 

Fifty per cent, of all direct female descendants 
of Margaret became prostitutes, and of the whole 
stock, from the age of twelve upwards, fifty per 

G«q»l Work. 13 



98 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

cent, are found to be of disreputable character. 
Murder or attempts to murder appear among the 
males in every generation except the sixth, where 
the children are not older than seven years. For- 
gery is found but once on their records. Theft ap- 
pears everywhere. 

Another appalling feature in this history of 
criminal inheritance is the disease spread through 
the county by these vagrant children, and the con- 
sequent lunacy, idiocy, epilepsy, and final weakness 
of body and mind which belong to inherited pau- 
perism, transmitted to so many human beings. 

Mr. Dugdale has traced still farther the line, 
and makes it probable that the aggregate of the 
descendants of these vagrant children reach the 
large amount of 1,200 persons living and dead. 

The cost of their almshouse relief he estimates 
as $15,000, and their out-door relief as $32,250 to 
Ulster county ; the maintenance of the prisoners of 
this family at $100 per annum, as $14,000 ; the cost 
of arrest and trial at $100 for each case, at $25,000 ; 
the amount of property stolen or destroyed by them, 
at $15,000, and so on in various items, until he 
reaches the sum of $1,023,600 as the cost to Ulster 
county and the state of New York for neglecting 
one vagrant child and her miserable little sisters. 



BOW TO SAVE SOULS. 99 

XVIII. 
SOW TO SATE SOULS. 

Souls are saved through the agency of the 
truth ; therefore, it is the duty of every one to 
endeavor to be familiar with the truth, by the study 
of the Bible and good books, and by strict, faithful, 
and prayerful attention to the preached word. 
Without familiarity with the truth, no Chiistian can 
become useful in the highest degree. 

You can work for Christ — 

By giving and lending tracts and good books. 

By punctually meeting all your religious en- 
gagements. 

By persevering efforts to bring acquaintances 
and strangers to the prayer-meetings and Sabbath 
services of the church, and by learning or teaching 
in the Sabbath-school. 

By cultivating a spirit of sociability and Chris- 
tian fellowship, especially among members of the 
church, and in the house of worship. 

By visiting the sick, the poor, strangers and 
acquaintances, in the spirit of the Master. 

By cordial attention to strangers. 

By endeavoring to be familiar with the progress 
of the kingdom of heaven on earth, as indicated by 



ioo GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

the great Christian enterprise of the church, at 
home and abroad. 

By giving, as God hath prospered you, punc- 
tually and regularly, for the current expenses of 
your church, and for the salvation of the world. 

By earnest and regular secret prayer for the 
prosperity of your own church, and the whole church 
of Christ. 

By testimony for Christ, many are awakened, 
and others edified. "Go home to thy friends, and 
tell them how great things the Lord hath done for 
thee." 

By holding neighborhood prayer-meetings with 
the advice of pastor and elders. In this way great 
good is often done. 

By direct personal appeals to the unconverted 
to come at once to Christ. Every Christian ought 
to win souls to the Saviour. 

By studiously conforming to Christian principles 
in all business transactions. 



XIX. 

A MISSION COJVTBUT &BCOMES A 
MISSIONARY. 

Forty years ago a family of English immigrants 
arrived in this citv whose character and habits 



A MISSION CONVERT A MISSIONARY. 101 

promised nothing but degradation and ruin for 
themselves, and harm and loss to the community. 
The father was a man of fair natural abilities, had 
seen something of the world, was a good mechanic, 
and capable of filling a respectable position in life, 
but he had given a loose rein to sensual appetites 
until the barriers of self-restraint were swept away 
and he and his sons alike had become intemperate, 
improvident, and reckless, and the place they called 
home was the abode of strife and confusion and 
every evil work. 

This father and one of his sons, after much 
persuasion, were induced to attend a religious 
meeting which had been commenced in their neigh- 
borhood, especially for the benefit of those who 
were not reached by the ordinary means of grace. 
At the close of the meeting a few words were 
addressed to them alone, and they were urged to 
attend to the interests of their souls. The father 
said curtly: "If we are to be saved, we shall be; 
and if not, all that we can do will be of no avail," 
and walked away. 

To the surprise of those who knew their natural 
stubbornness and prejudice, they appeared in the 
meeting again the next week, and when they were 
spoken to in a friendly way after the service, it 



io2 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK 

appeared that the Holy Spirit had already brought 
them to some reflection, for now the reply was 
soberly given : " Either we are wise and you are 
fools, onwe are fools and you are wise." 

The following week found them again in the 
place of prayer, listening with evident interest to 
the simple presentation of the gospel. And now, 
when personally addressed, the reply came in the 
form of the inquiry : " Men and brethren, what must 
I do ?" It was plain that the father, at least, had 
determined on a new course, and he was encouraged 
and aided in every way that Christian love could 
devise. Such had been his manner of life, and such 
the strength of evil habits and the pernicious influ- 
ence of his bad example, that his way seemed beset 
with the most formidable difficulties; but he felt 
that every obstacle must be overcome, he must go 
forward or he must die ; and casting himself upon 
the Lord, he was enabled to persevere. 

After a few days he said to his family : " I can 
no longer sit down to partake of the bounties of a 
kind Father without asking his blessing." This 
opened the way for family worship, which he next 
instituted, and at the prayer-meeting soon after, he 
took part in the service, calling upon the name of 
the Lord, and with a broken and contrite spirit 



A MISSION CONVERT A MISSIONARY. 103 
\ 
confessed his sins. In the language of a child he 

spoke of his wanderings, and of the way in which 
Providence had led him. He praised God for hav- 
ing brought him to this land, and placed him under 
such gracious influences. "Oh! who would have 
expected," he exclaimed, " to find such a worthless 
worm of the dust among the people of God ?" He 
soon made an open profession of his faith in the 
Redeemer, and took his family to church and his 
children to Sabbath-school. 

As might be expected, this great outward moral 
revolution was attended with, and followed by, the 
most marked change in the outward life and sur- 
roundings ; the whole aspect of the family was 
altered for better, and their condition in every 
respect greatly improved. Having been furnished 
with a small capital, they were enabled to go on 
with their trade — work, more than they could 
accomplish, was offered them — all were busy, and 
all comparatively happy. 

It may well be supposed that this man, saved 
through the faithful exertions of active Christians, 
would himself feel a peculiar interest in similar 
efforts ; and soon he was seen engaged in going 
from house to house, as he could find time, speak- 
ing in plain honest phrase of a Saviour's love, and 



104 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

gathering people into the house of prayer; and 
not without effect, for the Holy Spirit owned and 
blessed these humble endeavors, and many were 
converted to God. And so he continued for years 
to labor with such marked consistency, prudence 
and skill, that his brethren felt that the Spirit had 
designated him for the work, and he was according- 
ly appointed as a missionary, and in this relation 
served his Master with great zeal and success for 
twenty years, when he went to his grave in a full 
age, like as a shock of corn cometh in, in his season. 



XX. 
SCAsYDIMA TIAJYS. 

Among the recent deaths has been that of a 
good man, known for thirty years as Pastor Hed- 
strom of the Bethel Ship, or Mission for Scandina- 
vians, at Pier No. n, North River. And this re- 
vives some recollections of the commencement of 
the missionary operations among that interesting 
people, which T will briefly narrate. 

Some years prior to 1845, a young sea-captain, 
Roland Gelston, was converted, and at once com- 
menced a life of Christian activity, as a tract visitor 
among seamen. In the prosecution of his labors, 



SC AND IN A VIA NS. 105 

he visited sailors in the New York Hospital, laid a 
tract upon the breast of a sleeping Swedish sailor, 
who, upon awaking, read it, and resolved, if spared, 
to enter upon a new life. This man was Peter 
Bergner, who came to be connected with the Mari- 
ner's church, then in Roosevelt street, under the 
care of Rev. Henry Chase. Bergner was by trade 
a ship-carpenler, and while at his work would talk 
to such of his countrymen as he found, and per- 
suade them to come to his house, where he would 
talk and pray with them. Meantime a ship, the 
Henry Leeds, had been purchased, dismantled, and 
fitted up as a church by the Wesleyan Methodists. 
These people attempted the maintenance of a mis- 
sion to seamen, longshoremen, and others, and 
Bergner obtained permission to hold meetings also 
for his countrymen. 

Bergner, working in the First ward, soon came 
under the notice of the city missionary of the ward, 
who at once brought the man and his work to the 
attention of his associates in the City Mission, and 
great interest was awakened in behalf of the Scan- 
dinavian population. Statistics were gathered, and 
a statement was prepared and laid before the Mis- 
sionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
At the same time the Bethel ship had been given 

GoBpel Work. 14 



106 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

up by the Wesleyan Methodists, and was for sale, 
and Mr. Hedstrom was within reach, so the Mission- 
ary Society made an appropriation, and the Meth- 
odist church authorities appointed Mr. Hedstrom as 
missionary to the Scandinavians, and he commenced 
his work in 1845, and with him Peter Bergner, as a 
true yokefellow, labored most faithfully for twenty 
years, or until his death, in 1866, being sustained 
in his work by the City Mission. 

From this first evangelical missionary effort 
among the Scandinavians in this country has come 
the following statistical results, gathered from the 
last Annual Report of the Missionary Society of 
the Methodist Episcopal church. It appears that 
in Denmark, Sweden, and Norway together, there 
are 81 ministers, 8y churches and preaching places, 
and 8,409 communicants. And in the Scandina- 
vian missions in this country there are 70 ministers, 
70 churches, and 5,190 communicants. And be- 
side this, other Protestant denominations have been 
equally active in instituting missions among the 
people, and show gratifying returns for their work. 
So a little seed has become a tree, according to the 
word of the Lord. 



THE COSMOPOLITAN CITY. 107 

THE COSMOPOLITAN CITY. 

Hardly any city has a greater variety of popula- 
tion than New York. Not only are all the sections 
and states of the Union represented here, but most 
of the nations of the earth. The State Census of 
1875 gives the number of persons born in Ireland 
as 199,084, and if we add to this for the children of 
Irish parentage born in this city, 100,000, we may 
estimate the Irish population at 300,000. From 
the same census we learn that the number of per- 
sons born in Germany is 165,021, and adding 85,000 
to this for the children of German parents born in 
this city, we may suppose that the German popula- 
tion is not far from 250,000. Other nationalities 
are given as follows : Persons born in England, 
26,913 ; in Scotland, 7,635 ; in Canada, 3,979. Then 
there are thousands of French, Italians, Spaniards, 
Cubans, and Portuguese, and numbers of Russians, 
Swedes, Finns, South -Americans, Norwegians, 
Mexicans, Greeks, Poles, Japanese, Bohemians, 
Chinese, East-Indians, with a few Armenians, Si- 
amese, Hawaiians, Arabs, Copts, Malays, Thibe- 
tans, and Turks. Forty different languages are 
heard in our streets. Among all these people the 
-city missionary goes, carrying the Scriptures and 



io3 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

the tracts in their various tongues, and showing 
that friendly interest and Christian sympathy that 
needs no interpreter but the human heart. 



XXI. 

zitijvg justz) teaching thh gosthl 
oh christ. 

When Christ had finished the work of laying 
the foundations of his kingdom in the world, in pre- 
cisely what state did he leave it ? He passed out 
of the view of men. He has never manifested him- 
self to their gaze since. How much did he leave 
behind him ? Moses wrote the law ; Jesus Christ 
wrote nothing. The prophets wrote their prophe- 
cies ; Jesus Christ wrote nothing. He lived, he 
spoke, he acted, he wrought, he died, he arose, he 
ascended into heaven. He left just simply the 
memory of what he was, and what he said, and 
what he did. It is a matter sometimes of amaze- 
ment to thoughtful men, that our Lord did not 
leave from his own hand the portrait of himself, the 
record of his words, the history of his deeds. He 
left only a memory ; but memory is the action of 
the mind, It must have existed then in the mind 
of men, and only there. It comes to this : Jesus 



LIVING AND TEACHING THE GOSPEL. 1C9 

Christ left in the world a few men and women like- 
minded with himself, with whom was the same 
spirit which was also in Jesus. And that was all. 
Our Lord did not leave a long statement of the 
truth. He left men, women. If thereafter the 
truth was to be known, it must be known from 
them. If thereafter the truth must be proved, it 
must be proved in them and by them. If thereafter 
the truth was to be illustrated, it must be illustrated 
in their life and death. Our Lord might have 
turned to his few followers as hs ascended upon the 
clouds of heaven, and said, after the manner of an 
apostle who said to his pupils, " Ye are my epis- 
tles — ye are my gospel." Men and women, then, 
were to remember the person of Christ, to cherish 
his character, to recall his words and works, and 
then go about telling all he was, whatever they 
could remember of what he had said, so much as 
they could distinctly recall of what he had done. 
In that state, in such keeping to be continued and 
propagated by such instruments, our Lord left that 
kingdom which he came down from heaven to estab- 
lish in the earth. This explains our whole relation 
to the kingdom of Christ, and our whole work for 
the kingdom of Christ. We are, first, to know 
Jesus ; we are, second, to preach Jesus. Now let 



no GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

me distinguish between certain facts historical and 
biographical about Jesus and knowing Jesus him- 
self. Very many of the Jews knew the events in 
the personal history of Jesus Christ. Very many 
of them had overheard his discourses. Very many 
of them had witnessed his miracles. Some of them 
had seen him die. Some were aware of his resur- 
rection. Some had heard of his ascension. But 
they did not comprehend him. His disciples seem 
to have been let somewhat into the secret of his 
person, the principles of his character, and the 
power of his holiness. Take, for example, any Jew 
who among the throng of followers had witnessed 
the teaching and the working of Jesus, and com- 
pare his knowledge and appreciation of him with 
the knowledge and appreciation of that disciple 
whom Jesus loved. The one knew Jesus Christ 
by name and exterior life ; the other knew him by 
nature and by the interior and divine life. And it 
seems to me that Jesus gave more gospel in simply 
living before his disciples than even He who spake 
as never man spake would have uttered in any lan- 
guage given to mortals, or brought down from im- 
mortals. And this seems to have been the larger 
part of the gospel of Christ. We have a few con- 
versations recorded, but exceedingly short. We 



LIVING AND TEACHING THE GOSPEL, in 

have a few instructions that seem to be parts of 
extended discourses, but they are exceedingly brief. 
What he was, was more than what he said. What 
he manifested was more than he could utter. What 
he did was gospel. And so he seems to have 
gathered the disciples around him that they might 
know him. He ate bread with them. He lay down 
to sleep with them. He went through all the com- 
mon offices of the humblest life in its intensest sim- 
plicity in companionship with them. He spoke 
naturally as opportunity was afforded or occasion 
demanded. He answered questions, he resolved 
difficulties, he consoled griefs, he relieved troubles. 
What he did say seems rather to have been drawn 
out of him than offered spontaneously by him, and 
so we find his sayings all intermixed with history, 
and not set apart by themselves in separateness. I 
believe that the philosophy of the mission of Jesus 
is to be found in the fact, that he was the bright- 
ness of the Father's glory, the express image of his 
person. He was the Godhead embodied. To give 
gospel was to show himself. Beyond that, to be 
sure, he was to die for man's guilt, to be humbled 
in the dust of death that he might rise again for 
man's justification. And on the cross there is the 
gospel also, but the person dying there for sinners 



U2 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

is again the gospel. So throughout, as a manifes- 
tation of the nature of God and as a fulfilment of 
the will of God, Jesus Christ, acting while he lived 
and dying when his life was lived through, was him- 
self gospel. Rev. Joseph T. Duryea, D. D. 



XXII. 

WATER ST'EBET. 

Ten years ago a faithful and laborious city mis- 
sionary, now entered into his rest, was stationed 
near the Five Points. Often his heart was stirred 
within him as he saw crowds of unfortunate and 
friendless men drifting past him ; and wishing to 
do them good, he drew them into his mission room ; 
and when they were hungry he fed them from his 
own table ; and at night, instead of sending them 
to the police station for lodging, gave them a blan- 
ket and a place on the benches in the mission room. 
This practical philanthropy becoming known, two 
of our down-town merchants craved the privilege 
of furnishing the means necessary to carry on the 
good work, and have ever since contributed to it 
liberally. In process of time it became expedient 
to change the location of the mission station, and 



WA TER STREE T. 113 

one of the leading Nassau street bankers having on 
his hands a house in Water street, which he had 
purchased to redeem from the rum-trade and the 
business of prostitution, offered the same to the 
City Mission for their benevolent purposes. 
Through the aid of members of the Executive 
Committee and their friends the premises were 
cleaned and furnished, and opened for a free read- 
ing-room for workingmen and for religious meet- 
ings. So much encouragement attended this effort 
that it was resolved to rebuild ; and last fall a plain, 
substantial brick building was erected on the same 
ground, 316 Water street, and the place is now 
known as the " McAuley Water-street Mission," 
and meetings are held every evening of the week 
and twice on the Sabbath, and all are well at- 
tended. 

Since the humble effort first commenced ten 
years ago at the Five Points, the work of reclaim- 
ing the wandering and saving the abandoned has 
been steadily gaining in public favor and confi- 
dence. The new and attractive rooms opened at 
316 Water street are witness to the faith of Chris- 
tian men that the gospel can lift up even from the 
dens and slums of the Fourth ward. And five 
years ago a similar enterprise was started in the 
15 



U4 



GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 



Bowery, near Grand street, reaching perhaps a little 
better class of men, younger in years generally, and 
not so far gone in sin ; and three thousand men 
each year are reached and benefited in one way 
and another through this chapel and its useful ad- 
juncts. 

In all our city mission chapels gospel temper- 
ance meetings are regularly carried on, and those 
who sign the pledge are visited and encouraged 
and kindly looked after ; and numbers of men give 
credible evidence of a radical change in heart and 
life, and are supporting themselves respectably. 
Any one can see the money value of these mission- 
ary operations that take men who are a burden and 
expense to society and transform them into useful, 
self-supporting citizens and taxpayers. 



XXIII. 
THE MASSES. 

There is a great deal of irresponsible and reck- 
less talk about what are of late years called "The 
Masses." Some people speak of curing the evils 
among the masses— as if they were all diseased. 
Some urge a reformation of the masses — as if they 



THE MASSES. 115 

were all vicious. Some suggest that the social sys- 
tem be reconstructed from the very foundations — 
as if the masses were bricks or blocks, and would 
be improved by being laid over again. Philanthro- 
pists and politicians, divines and demagogues, are 
all declaiming about the masses. 

Just in order to receive correct ideas upon this 
great subject, it is proper sometimes to venture in 
one's own behalf an analysis of a vast multitude of 
men, women, and children ; such, for instance, as 
that our Saviour saw from the heights of Golan, 
when the people followed him around the shore of 
Tiberias. "And Jesus, when he came out, saw 
much people, and was moved with compassion tow- 
ard them, because they were as sheep not having 
a shepherd." The crowd seemed just like one of 
those vagrant flocks he was accustomed to notice 
on the slopes of such grassy hills. 

The significant part of Jesus' comment is found 
in the suggestion of what these people lacked, and 
not of what they had. It was the spectacle of a neg- 
ative, and not of a positive. Let us get this clear. 
What is cold ? The mere absence of heat. What 
is darkness ? The mere absence of light. What 
is ignorance ? Absence of knowledge. What is 
sickness ? Absence of health. Is it always wicked 



n6 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

to be chilly, or sightless, or unlearned, or ill ? That 
depends upon circumstances. A negative may be- 
come so severe, however, as to be a fearful reflection. 
They used to make me laugh when I was a child, tell- 
ing me of some sandbanks by the seashore which 
caved away and left the holes of the homeless swal- 
lows sticking straight out in the air. But I have seen 
a lack so extensive that it became a prominent pro- 
tuberance in a life, nevertheless. As our Lord saw 
that throng, and marked their excited looks, their 
aimless hurry, he compared them to a flock unfold- 
ed, unprotected, and unled. They were sheep, not 
with anything, but without something ; not with 
diseases, but without a shepherd. A shepherd is 
everything to sheep. Such a negative lack is a 
positive loss. It may suggest new thought con- 
cerning the masses, to contemplate what they miss, 
as well as what they manifest. 

It would be a salutary exercise for any Chris- 
tian to go where he can spend a meditative hour in 
full view of a vast city. There is something ex- 
ceedingly impressive in that voluminous body of 
sound which rises upon the ear, listening carefully 
to it from some high position overlooking the 
scene. Remember that this solemn murmur, seem- 
ing so like the majestic roar of the sea, is not by 



CO-OPERATION. 117 

any means the roll of inanimate water against rocks 
without nerves. It is all alive. It is made up of 
sighs and songs, words and wailings, shouts of 
laughter and groans of pain, friendly greetings and 
bitter explosions of wrath. All these are mingled 
together and wrought into the same substance, the 
pure and the foul alike. As we listen to it, it rep- 
resents one great swell of emotion absolutely in- 
stinct with vitality. It is thoroughly human as you 
and I, when we speak or weep or pray, are human. 

Rev. C. S. Robinson, D. D. 



XXIV. 
COOTE2to±ZIOJY. 

The New York City Mission and Tract Socie- 
ty, established on the common faith of evangelical 
Protestant Christianity, and working on the plan of 
Christian union and cooperation, has always culti- 
vated fraternal relations with all who were working 
in the same line, and often joins its labors with 
those of kindred societies to the great advantage 
of both. At the present time such organizations 
of mutual helpfulness exist between the City Mis- 
sion and several societies, among which may be 



nS GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

named the New York Bible Society, the Associa- 
tion for Improving the Condition of the Poor, the 
Children's Aid Society, the Young Men's Christian 
Association, the Five Points House of Industry, 
and the Home of the Friendless. 

The public mind is sometimes exercised with 
the apparently excessive multiplication of charita- 
ble societies, and insists that all of kindred aims 
shall be united in one organization. How far this 
would be wise or practicable is left for others to 
determine. For those who are actively engaged in 
carrying on the societies, it remains that they 
should study to promote reciprocal action between 
the several charitable organizations, with a view to 
greater economy and efficiency in the administra- 
tion of relief, the exposure of professional beggars, 
the prevention of pauperism and crime, and the 
moral elevation of the worthy, industrious poor. 
For the purpose of giving accurate information 
concerning the charitable work in operation in 
New York, the City Mission has for fifteen years 
been giving to the public, with the beginning of 
each year, a pamphlet of 150 pages, with descrip- 
tive lists of all the benevolent societies and institu- 
tions. And that this publication meets a felt neces- 
sity is shown in the number of applications which 



CO-OPERATION. ng 

are constantly made for it from January to Decem- 
ber. In gathering the facts and statistics for this 
volume, the Secretary personally visits every insti- 
tution in the city and studies the history of each. 

Lately I have had the opportunity of seeing 
something of the good work being done among 
seamen, so many thousands of whom visit our port. 
In the Church of the Sea and Land, Market, cor- 
ner of Henry street, Rev. Edward Hopper, D. D., 
pastor, I found a very large number at the weekly 
prayer-meeting, and learned that the work of grace 
among the seamen was going on without intermis- 
sion. In the old Mariner's Church, corner of Mad- 
ison and Catharine streets, Rev. E. D. Murphy, 
pastor, there has been a powerful work going on 
for two years, and thousands of sailors have been 
reached through missionary efforts. 

The Children's Aid Society, in its lodging- 
houses for homeless boys, is doing an admirable 
work. The First Ward Reading-Room for Work- 
ingmen, located in the upper part of the De Witt 
Chapel, 135 Greenwich street, is a bright, cheery 
place, and attracts to its pleasant rooms hundreds 
of the class for whom it was designed. Jerry Mc- 
Auley is constantly picking up the poor fellows 
drifting through the low places of Water street, 



120 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

and the Carmel Chapel, 134 Bowery, extends a 
helping hand to the wandering men who have lost 
their way. 

If any one would like to see and hear of the 
progress that Gospel Temperance is making among 
these men, let them visit Carmel Chapel, 134 Bow- 
ery, on Monday evening, or Calvary Chapel, 103 
Worth street, on Tuesday evening, or De Witt 
Chapel, 135 Greenwich street, on Wednesday even- 
ing. Let our good people visit the charitable in- 
stitutions, and examine in detail the work as it is 
in progress, that they may form an intelligent judg- 
ment of their merits, and so be better prepared to 
distribute their patronage. 



XXV. 
yrovdKiJVGMEj\r>s czv&s. 

The promoters of the workingmen's club move- 
ment appeal to the public for contributions in aid 
of the Lebanon Club. The movement is not de- 
signed to add to the charities of New York, but to 
furnish workingmen with healthy, moral, Christian 
forms of entertainment and instruction, and places 
of resort where they may be free from the vicious 
and degrading influences to which they are exposed 



WORKINGMEN'S CLUBS. 121 

by their present only available resorts — the rum- 
shops. The men themselves will sustain the clubs 
when once they have been established by their 
friends. The success of the clubs in England, es- 
pecially in London and Liverpool, and the fact that 
the work here is advised and supported by some of 
the most prominent men among our clergy and 
laity, who have been connected with and have wit- 
nessed the results of the work there, is a guarantee 
of the like success here. 

" The Christian world is doing wrong in not 
doing more, not only in charity, but in sympathy," 
was the impressive remark of Rev. Dr. John Cotton 
Smith, at a meeting in his church for the encour- 
agement of the plan which has proved so successful 
in England and in this country, the establishment 
of workingmen's clubs, not distinctly religious, and 
by no means with the aspect of charity institutions, 
but with pleasant apartments and appliances, con- 
versation-rooms, refreshment-rooms, and smoking- 
rooms where all would be welcome and at home, 
without the dangerous allurements of the saloon 
and grogshops. It is feasible and practical, and, as 
was stated by Dr Rylance, who was familiar with 
the work in London, has rescued many from the 
ginshops. Christian employers and philanthropists 
16 



122 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

could in no way better counteract the seditious 
measures of agitators and demagogues, who are 
embittering the minds of the workingmen, than by 
multiplying among them these healthful and attrac- 
tive resorts, as expressions of real sympathy between 
these two classes rather than the antagonism which 
is claimed to exist. 



XXVI. 
TENEMENT- HO USES. 

A tenement-house, as defined by the law of 
the state, includes " every house, building, or por- 
tion thereof, which is rented, leased, let, or hired 
out to be occupied, or is occupied as the house or 
residence of more than three families living inde- 
pendently of each other, and doing their cooking 
upon the premises, or by more than two families 
upon a floor, so living and cooking, but having a 
common right to the halls, stairways, yards, water- 
closets, or privies or some of them." 

This is a description of a tenement-house of 
minimum size, and gives no adequate conception 
of the great mass of the tenement-houses of New 
York. In general they are old structures which 
were built for other purposes, partitioned off within 



TENEMENT-HO USES. 1 2 3 

so as to give each family two rooms, a living-room 
ten by twelve feet, and a bedroom six by four feet, 
while no regard is paid to ventilation or domestic 
conveniences. Twenty, thirty, forty, to one hun- 
dred and fifty such apartments are constructed, and 
in each a family of from three to five persons is 
crowded. Dangerous as is such overcrowding in 
individual houses when exposed to the full play of 
the wind, the danger is increased one hundred- 
fold when such dwellings are as closely packed to- 
gether in the blocks as are the people in their 
apartments. Rear tenement-houses aggravate the 
evil beyond measure. They are built upon the 
rear of the yard, close to the rear tenement of the 
opposite lot, leaving a small, cold, and damp space 
between the front and rear houses, not inappropriate- 
ly called the " well-hole." Not only are fresh air and 
sunlight thus effectually excluded from the living 
and sleeping apartments of most of the inmates, 
but the buildings become cold and damp, and in 
time are saturated with the poisonous and filthy 
excreta of the inmates. While the wood and other 
materials of such structures undergo the process of 
dry-rot, the wretched tenants waste and die from a 
disease expressively termed " tenement-house rot. 
The debasing effects of such houses has never 



T24 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

been overdrawn. Perhaps the most vivid picture 
of the moral and physical degradation of this class 
of people was sketched by N. P. Willis immediate- 
ly after the riots of 1863, who was an eyewitness 
to what he so truthfully describes. He says : 

" The high, brick blocks and closely-packed 
houses in this neighborhood seemed to be literally 
hives of sickness and vice. Curiosity to look on at 
the fire raging so near them brought every inhabi- 
tant to the porch or window, or assembled them in 
ragged and dirty groups on the sidewalks in front. 
Probably not a creature who could move was left 
in-doors at that hour. And it is wonderful to see 
and difficult to believe that so much misery and 
disease and wretchedness can be huddled together 
and hidden by high walls, unvisited and unthought 
of, so near our own abodes. The lewd, but pale 
and sickly young women, scarce decent in their 
ragged attire, were impudent, and scattered every- 
where in the crowd. But what numbers of these 
poorer classes are deformed, what numbers are 
made hideous by self-neglect and infirmity, and 
what numbers are paralytics, drunkards, imbecile, 
or idiotic, forlorn in their poverty-stricken aban- 
donment for this world ! Alas, human faces look 
so hideous with hope and vanity all gone ! And 



TENEMENT-HO USES. 1 25 

female form and features are made so frightful by 
sin, squalor, and debasement ! To walk the streets 
as we walked them, for those hours of conflagration 
and riot, was like a fearful witnessing of the day of 
judgment, with every wicked thing revealed, every 
hidden horror and abomination laid bare before 
hell's expectant fire." 

The degree of overcrowding in our present ten- 
ement-house districts exceeds that of any of the large 
cities of the civilized world. The following compar- 
ative table exhibits the population to the square 
acre of the tenement-house classes, or the poor of 
New York and London, according to the census of 
1870: 

NEW YORK. LONDON. 

Ward 11 328 Strand 307 

Ward 13 311 St. Luke's 259 

Ward 14 275 East London 266 

Ward 17 289 Holborn 229 

The effect of this excessive crowding in badly- 
constructed dwellings upon the death-rate, is ex- 
hibited in the fact that this half of the population 
of New York yields seventy-five per cent, of the 
total annual sickness and mortality. Sickness and 
death are, however, but a fraction of the sum total 
of damage which overcrowding and defective house 
accommodations do to the poor. They are com- 



126 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

pelled to live in such familiar contact, such daily 
and nightly exposure of sexes, almost bestial, and 
such utter disregard of the common decencies of 
rational beings, that vice and the grossest immo- 
rality pervade the very atmosphere of their homes. 

Examples illustrating the importance of recon- 
structing tenement-houses are numerous. A house 
in East Seventeenth street, having a capacity 
for ten families, had fallen into a condition of ex- 
treme dilapidation and filth. It was long occupied 
by the poorest and most depraved classes, when, in 
addition to other diseases, typhus fever began to 
prevail among the inmates, and in the course of 
six months twenty persons had this disease. It 
was then vacated and thoroughly repaired ; the 
privies and drains were placed in good order ; the 
walls were scraped and replastered ; the woodwork 
was renewed ; through and through ventilation in 
every room was secured ; and the whole was neatly 
painted. During the five succeeding years scarce- 
ly a case of sickness occurred in that house. 

The Old Brewery was formerly occupied by the 
lowest class of people living about the Five Points. 
It was in an extreme degree of dilapidation, and 
saturated with filth of every description. Every 
form of contagious disease here found a natural 



TENEMENT-HOUSES. 1.27 

home and diseases directly traceable to local 
causes prevailed throughout the year. The death- 
rate of this community was about fifty-five per 
thousand, and the sickness-rate was nearly equal 
to the total population. This building was taken 
possession of by the Methodist Society, and con- 
verted into a mission-house. The interior was 
entirely remodelled, additions were made, and two 
stories of the old building were converted into liv- 
ing-rooms for families, each family having one 
living-room and one or two bedrooms, according to 
their necessities, with adequate ventilation. The 
capacity of these two stories was for twenty fami- 
lies. The families which occupy this portion of 
the reconstructed Old Brewery are of the same 
grade as those which formerly occupied this build- 
ing. They are the most destitute and abandoned 
class of that district. The Mission gives them 
apartments free of rent, provided they conform 
strictly to the rules of the institution, and support 
themselves. These rules require that no liquors 
shall be drank by the inmates, nor brought into the 
house; perfect cleanliness of their persons, apart- 
ments, and halls, shall be preserved; they shall 
retire and rise at a given hour, etc. The results 
are surprising. There is not more than one death 



128 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

annually among these twenty families, and that 
from chronic diseases not traceable to the house, 
and but rarely is there a case of sickness. 

The most immediately practicable measures of 
relief to overcrowding and its evils are of four kinds, 
namely: I. Improvement and reconstruction of ex- 
isting tenement-houses. 2. The building of model 
tenement-houses. 3. Providing cheap railroad tran- 
sit. 4. The conversion of warehouses and other 
unused buildings into tenement-houses. 

IMPROVEMENT IN EXISTING TENEMENT-HOUSES. 

The facts which have been given concerning 
the tenement-houses of this city will, it is hoped, 
awaken the attention of thoughtful men and raise 
inquiry as to means and measures of reform. 

Plans have been projected at various times look- 
ing to improved dwellings for the poor, and some 
experiments have been made — as that of the 
" Workingmen's Home" in Elizabeth street, near 
Canal street, and at other places, and building as- 
sociations have done something in establishing 
homes for mechanics in the suburbs of the city. 
While large-hearted philanthropists are combining 
with capitalists to devise and carry out grand 
schemes of improved dwellings for the poor, it may 



TENEMENT-HOUSES. 129 

more readily meet the means and wishes of those 
who cannot enlist in any great undertaking to be 
informed of a wise and practicable plan that requires 
very little money. As for instance a good mission- 
ary woman, laboring among the poor at the Five 
Points and feeling deeply the evil influences sur- 
rounding those who are trying to lead a virtuous 
life, took a tenement-house, on her own responsi- 
bility, and put it in good order, and then introduced 
into it tenants of her own selection, who would be 
willing to conform to the ordinary rules of cleanli- 
ness and good behavior. It has been found that 
order and comfort and thrift are the result, and a 
visit to the house will be sufficient to convince any 
one of the practicability of this undertaking. In 
view of what has thus been demonstrated, it would 
seem to be entirely feasible to institute some very 
practical reforms in the tenement-houses as they 
are, and I respectfully submit if this is not worthy 
the attention of your readers. At the same time 
I would most respectfully and earnestly urge upon 
capitalists and others the necessity of larger and 
more comprehensive measures of permanent relief. 
If any will inquire further of the good work in prog- 
ress at the Five Points, let them correspond with 
the City Missionary, 155 Worth street. 

Gospel Work. 1 *\ 



[30 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 



XXVII. 

OZTR 2>AJ\fGE'R 

At the Forty-seventh Anniversary of the So- 
ciety, the Rev. Dr. John Hall, spoke of the dangers 
to which society is exposed. 

Dr. Hall said that he was to speak of the dan- 
ger to the community, from that point of view which 
Christian citizens might be supposed to take. He 
contemplated moral and spiritual danger; but that 
peril is so intimately connected with others as to 
call for attention, and some solicitude, from every 
citizen, whether influenced by Christian or only by 
patriotic feeling, whether actuated by public spirit 
or only by intelligent regard to personal interests. 
There is danger from the growth of a large godless 
population outside the churches, uninfluenced by 
them, without the restraints and motives of religion. 
It is warrantable to say, " outside the churches," for 
by common consent the overwhelming proportion 
of crime is outside the churches — outside the Prot- 
estant churches. It is not claimed that all inside 
the churches are genuine and immaculate, nor all 
outside bad ; but it is claimed that the outside 



OUR DANGER. 131 

classes furnish the criminals, as a whole. There 
are prisons in the land, he would venture to say, 
that had been long and fully occupied, that rarely 
had a professing Christian in them, in the technical 
Protestant sense of that word. Let this outside 
class grow up, and what must the effect be ? The 
general tone of moral feeling must be lowered. 
The amount of temptation to the untainted must 
continually increase. There are many kinds of 
vice that eat themselves out, and must be constant- 
ly recruited from the innocent. The human birds 
and beasts of prey do not thrive on one another, 
but on the outside community. These corrupt 
classes constitute the ready tools of all schemers, 
demagogues, and enemies of the country. The 
suffrage gives them power; lack of principle makes 
them venal and unscrupulous in the use of means ; 
and they can render, if only numerous enough and 
organized, the finest theoretic institutions nugatory 
for all the ends of freedom, security, and prosperity. 
Among them, institutions of vice and all mischiev- 
ous agencies thrive ; and the rich men who said 
of them, " Am I my brother's keeper ?" will awaken 
to their existence and their awful force, when they 
find their sons and their daughters drawn into the 
vortex of their iniquity, and ruined. 



132 GOSPEL WORK /A NEW YORK. 

There is danger to the Church — danger of her 
demoralization— by her coming to accept this state 
of things as an inevitable necessity of large cities. 
There is danger of our gliding into the infidel 
position, that there is heathenism which the truth 
cannot reach ; that there is darkness so dense that 
the light cannot penetrate it ; that there are prob- 
lems too hard for Christian wisdom ; that the 
Gospel which conquered old-world heathenism, is 
unequal to the conflict with its modern represen- 
tatives. 

The human mind easily becomes accustomed to 
evil ; ceases to be shocked by it ; is no longer hor- 
rified ; learns to say, " Of course, there is a fearful 
amount of vice and sin ;" and to say it in an airy, 
jaunty way, as we might comment upon fogs off 
Newfoundland, or stormy weather about January. 
So our hearts get deadened to all the dreadful 
results involved, in time and in eternity, and we 
seem to act as if the men and women who are not 
fit to live with us, not fit for freedom, not fit for 
any place but prisons and penitentiaries, will be 
somehow quite fit for that holy and eternal home 
into which nothing entereth that defileth, or work- 
eth abominations, or maketh a lie ! 

Now, whose business is this ? It is the busi- 



OUR DANGER. 133 

ness of all American citizens. These great cities 
influence the destinies of a country because mind 
sharpens mind, concert and organization are here 
easy, and men can move in imposing masses. The 
ballot-box can be used or abused, and physical 
force can be easily employed to intimidate the fee- 
ble and overbear the hesitating. 

All property owners in this city have an inter- 
est in this. I am aware, said the speaker, that 
even for evil purposes houses can bring in for a 
while a high income ; but it is only for a while. 
There is a retributive law at work here, and the 
owners who are conveniently blind to the uses to 
which their property is put and by which they reap 
the profits, become losers eventually through the 
bad odor into which neighborhoods fall. I know 
the man who was invited as pastor to a church in 
this city, who made examination, and found so 
many disreputable houses around as to seriously 
interfere with its prosperity and his decision — and 
that was not below Fourteenth street. 

All employers have an interest in this question, 
as they will find out when dealing with the unprin- 
cipled and the violent, instead of the intelligent 
and the God-fearing working-people. Let there 
grow up a large class of the kind described, and 



134 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

they will work only when it cannot be helped : 
they will prescribe their own terms ; they will not 
shrink from violence in enforcing them ; they will 
become the ready instruments of the designing ; 
they will be too thoughtless to judge of the state- 
ments made to them ; and too ignorant of the prin- 
ciples that underlie social life to hold back from 
any demand however preposterous. 



XXVIII. 

TRIE® &JY3) TROVE®. 

In various ways the problem of city evangeliza- 
tion is proposed to be solved, as witness the dis- 
cussions in Christian conventions and the essays 
in the current literature of the day. 

One will have it that the true way to reach the 
people with the gospel is to make all the seats in 
all the churches absolutely free to all comers. An- 
other is equally certain that the people will never 
come to the churches as they are, free or not free. 
Theatres must be opened or gospel halls be built, 
relieved from all church conventionalities and re- 
strictions. 

We admire the enthusiasm with which these 



TRIED AND PROVED. 135 

and many other plans are advocated, and look with 
interest upon the various experiments which are 
being made in bringing the gospel to bear upon 
the hearts of multitudes of the non-churchgoing 
people in our great cities. 

If any inquire what has actually been done in 
this direction, it may be answered that for fifty 
years and more men and women of the various 
Protestant churches have been quietly and unosten- 
tatiously and patiently going into the poorer quar- 
ters, through the streets and lanes of the city, tell- 
ing the story of the Saviour's love, cheering the 
sad, instructing the ignorant, and directing the 
wandering to the sinner's friend. As they have 
won the confidence of those they sought to benefit, 
they have led the young into Sabbath-schools and 
Bible classes and the adults into churches, wherever 
free accommodations were available. 

In some parts of the city where no Protestant 
churches are found, and in other districts where 
none are easy of access, chapels have been built, 
neat, commodious, and church -like, where the 
Christian minister and the Christian ordinances 
are found, and where the poorest may come with- 
out fear of intruding. These chapels are not stig- 
matized as missions — they are not placarded as 



136 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

such — they are not known as such among the peo- 
ple who care for them. The people speak of these 
humble places of worship as churches or chapels 
with as much interest and affection as any of their 
well-to-do brethren speak of their own fine churches 
on the avenue. The families in the chapels we are 
speaking of are taught to contribute of their means 
to the support of the gospel, and do, in fact, give a 
fair proportion according to their ability, and thus, 
equally with the rich, enjoy the privilege of paying 
for what they get. Thus in every way the self-re- 
spect of the people is preserved, and they learn to 
help themselvesi 

And not only so, but they naturally and quickly 
learn to help others, and take up the work of evan- 
gelization themselves. A man, brought into one of 
these chapels, and finding a pleasant Sabbath home, 
and Christian kindness and sympathy, and conge- 
nial society, instantly becomes a zealous propagan- 
dist, and sets to work to bring his neighbors with 
him, and these in turn again will bring others. Just 
as at the first opening of the Christian church, when 
Andrew went after Peter and Philip went after Na- 
thanael. 

The point we are making is this : while plans 
and methods of city evangelization are being dis- 



TRIED AND PROVED. 



137 



cussed, and experiments of one sort and another 
are being tried, here is one way that is economical, 
wise, tried, and sure, namely, the plan of city mis- 
sions, according to which Christian men and wom- 
en, in the spirit of Christ and for the love of Christ, 
are going to the homes of the people, and winning 
a place in the hearts of the people for the gospel 
they carry by the gospel lives they are living ; and 
so are drawing them into churches and building 
them up into efficient agents for carrying on the 
good work. 

It may be objected that this plan requires time 
and money, and that it is too slow in its operation. 
And we need only reply that a thorough, perma- 
nent work like this is worth all it costs, and is not 
too slow to be sure. 

Whether the work of city evangelization is as 
expensive as is alleged, may be judged of by such 
figures as these : the New York City Mission has 
during the fifty years of its beneficent activities, 
spent $20,000 a year in sustaining its missionary 
operations, and for the same period has been instru- 
mental in the hopeful conversion of five hundred 
souls a year. 

Of course the majority of these converts have 
passed away, but of the living we have knowledge 

Gospel Work. 18 



133 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

of many that adorn the doctrine of God their Sav- 
iour, some of whom are occupying positions of em- 
inent usefulness in the gospel ministry and else- 
where. Though the formation of churches is com- 
paratively a recent development of city evangeliza- 
tion, churches of 400, 500, 600, and 800 members 
are found, with a vigorous spiritual life, exerting a 
power for good upon all around them. 

In two instances, as the result of the continuous, 
persistent, well-directed efforts of intelligent Chris- 
tian workers for fifteen years, the work has outgrown 
its first accommodation, and new, commodious, and 
even elegant buildings, have been erected, the bet- 
ter to meet the increased demands of the enter- 
prise. And as an indication of the growth of con- 
fidence in this sort of work, it may be said that the 
first mission building erected cost perhaps $25,000 
or $30,000, while the new ones cost $80,000 to 
$100,000 each. There are chapels now, of ten 
years' standing, that are found altogether inade- 
quate to accommodate the people that are ready to 
be gathered in. 

In the light of such facts as these, is it not fair 
to assume that this proposition has been demon- 
strated, namely, that, given a neat, commodious 
chapel, with an intelligent, attractive preacher, and 



TESTIMONIES. 139 

warm-hearted, efficient helpers, churches and Sab- 
bath-schools can be gathered, and powerful agen- 
cies for good can be set in operation in any desti- 
tute neighborhood ? To any one who has the means 
there is offered this grand opportunity, namely, to 
give one thousand dollars a year, which, on the av- 
erage, will support a city missionary, who, on no 
less a testimony than that of Lord Shaftesbury, is 
equal, as a moral police force, to one hundred po- 
licemen ; and after he is done using his money, he 
may leave fifty thousand dollars, which will plant a 
chapel that will be a well of salvation to untold mul- 
titudes for all time to come. 



XXIX. 
TBS TIMOJVIBS. 

At the recent Anniversary several of the pas- 
tors of the City Mission chapels presented the more 
prominent features of their work, giving altogether 
an impressive exhibition of the practical operations 
of city evangelization. The Rev. George Hatt, of 
De Witt Chapel, who has seen forty years of city 
missionary service, spoke on the importance and 
utility of tracts in Christian labor, and related many 



140 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

interesting facts in illustration. A man who re- 
ceived a tract on the Battery Park came to the 
chapel and found Christ there ; then brought his 
wife, who also found Christ ; and for years that 
man has been laboring for souls. A tract entitled, 
" The Act of Faith," given to a sick man, led to 
his conversion. The missionary sent a tract enti- 
tled, " What art Thou ?" to a young man in whom 
he felt deeply interested. It was the means of the 
young man's conviction, and so of his conversion ; 
and that convert is now an elder in a New Jersey 
church. On another occasion the speaker sent a 
tract to a young man anonymously. The recipient 
was going to the opera on the night he received 
the silent messenger ; but it was God's arrow of 
conviction, and went to his heart. He came to 
Christ, and then taking the tract to Sunday-school, 
read it, and related the circumstances connected 
with his reception of it. Two of the teachers were 
moved to seek the Saviour through the simple re- 
cital. 

Rev. James Marshall, of Lebanon Chapel, said 
he had a parish of 140,000 souls, and believed, 
among other plans, it was necessary to find some 
means of getting people under range of the gospel 
artillery. Lebanon Chapel, like a magnet gather- 



TESTIMONIES. 141 

ing the steel-filings out of surrounding dust, had 
gathered many precious souls out of the mass of 
sin and impurity, but there were thousands as yet 
unreached. 

Rev. John Dooly, of the Carmel Chapel, Bow- 
ery, said the Tenth and Fourteenth wards, in which 
he labored, contained 68,000 persons, including 
12,000 children. They had nine Protestant church- 
es, twelve Sabbath-schools, and 1,000 drink-shops. 
Through the past six years nine hundred persons 
had professed conversion in connection with the 
work. The speaker could tell of many trophies. 
In one case a man was brought to the prayer- 
meeting by a former comrade in crime — they were 
both burglars. The older one came out of curios- 
ity, but' was laid under conviction of sin and knelt 
in prayer for pardon. The praying groups con- 
tained the missionary and saved thief on one side 
and a seeking thief on the other, and the latter 
found the Saviour. He had a "jimmy" and skele- 
ton-keys in his sleeve, intending to break into a 
house that night. These he gave to the mission- 
ary, and they were now in the Society's office. 

Rev. A. F. SchaufHer, of Olivet Chapel, dwelt on 
the necessity of extended effort in Sunday-school 
work down town, as only by taking hold of the 



142 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

children could the masses be reached. Children 
needed no forcing ; they would come to school 
gladly. Indeed, hundreds of them had been turned 
away for want of room. New York Christians 
must send their best workers into these mission 
Sabbath-schools, as the work required the best pos- 
sible ability. A dying mother told her boy that 
the Lord Jesus would come to him and take care 
of him when she died. All night he waited at her 
grave, and in the morning a gentleman seeing him, 
asked and heard his story, then told him the Lord 
Jesus had sent him. " You have been a long while 
coming," the little fellow replied ; and the poor, 
destitute, down-town children might well say to 
Christian people, "You have been along time com- 
ing to us and bringing Jesus with you to our hearts 
and homes." 

The Rev. Charles S. Robinson, D. D., asserted 
that we did not understand the masses ; they were 
human like ourselves, and we could do them good 
if we would give them our hearts and our time. A 
plank was shoved to a drowning man, but as he 
touched it his fingers slipped and down he went. 
This was repeated more than once, when with an 
almost dying effort he called out to his would-be 
deliverers to give him the wood-end of the plank. 



TESTIMONIES. 143 

They found out that the plank was covered with 
ice at one end, and so the poor fellow's hands had 
slipped off every time he tried to grasp it. Get- 
ting hold of the other end, he was rescued. Let us 
give something better than the ice-end of the plank 
to distressed humanity, something more than the 
cold sympathy of formal charity. They want warm 
hearts and a sympathy that they feel to be genu- 
ine, and they will respond. 

The following resolutions were submitted by 
Mr. Roswell C. Smith, and seconded by Mr. Thom- 
as F. Jeremiah, and unanimously and heartily adopt- 
ed by the meeting : 

" 1. That history and experience have fully con- 
firmed the wisdom and efficiency of the principles 
and the plans of city evangelization. 

" 2. That in the New York City Mission and 
Tract Society we recognize an agency, well-estab- 
lished and intelligently directed, and admirably 
adapted to the work of carrying the gospel to the 
homes and the hearts of the people. 

" 3. That the moral and social condition of the 
multitudes in this city calls for the most vigorous 
and persistent prosecution of all Christian means 
and measures for their elevation and improve- 
ment. 



144 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

"4. That we heartily welcome the earnest co- 
operation of the ladies in city mission work, believ- 
ing that the labors of the missionary women under 
their direction among the wives and mothers and 
children of the poor are of inestimable importance 
in the renovation of society." 



AUXILIARY MEASURES. 

Practical and thoughtful philanthropists are 
continually turning over in their thoughts the ques- 
tions that touch the moral and social condition of 
the working classes, and now and then a good idea 
takes a practical shape, which at once commends 
itself to the judgment of every good citizen. Among 
the projects now on foot is that styled the "Work- 
ingmen's Club." It should be understood that this 
is a movement not designed to add to the charities 
of New York, but to furnish workingmen with 
healthy, moral, Christian forms of entertainment 
and instruction, and places of resort where they 
may be free from the vicious and degrading influ- 
ences of the drinking saloons. It is supposed that 
the workingmen themselves will be ready to sustain 
these clubs when they have been established by 
their friends. The Rev. Dr. Rylance, who has 



A UXILIARY MEASURES. 145 

personal knowledge of similar clubs in London, 
Rev. Dr. John Cotton Smith, Rev. Dr. Henry C. 
Potter, and others, have given their endorsement of 
the plan, and members of the Executive Committee 
of the City Mission are looking after the develop- 
ment of the same, and we trust it will not be long 
before a good beginning will be made. 

Another very practical, common-sense underta-. 
king is that of taking a tenement-house, and after a 
thorough cleaning, putting into it tenants who will 
be willing to conform to the ordinary rules of clean- 
liness, sobriety, and good behavior. A laborious 
missionary, visiting daily among the poor at the 
Five Points, feeling deeply the evil influences sur- 
rounding those who are trying to lead a virtuous 
life, took a tenement-house on her own responsibil- 
ity, and with broom and brush, and whitewash and 
paint, thoroughly renovated the place, and then 
introduced tenants who would promise to keep 
their rooms in order, close the doors at reasonable 
hours, aud shut out intoxicating drinks ; and the 
experiment proves that order and comfort and thrift 
are the result, to the great advantage of both land- 
lord and tenant. It would seem that this compara- 
tively inexpensive reform might be set on foot all 
over the city, among all the tenement-houses, if 

Gospel Work. \ \) 



146 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

only some good, energetic man or woman would 
take hold of the idea and urge it forward. 

One of the most difficult problems is, What 
shall be done for the strong, willing men who are 
out of work, and who, to keep from starvation, 
must be aided by charity ? A suggestion has been 
made that a farm be purchased convenient to the 
city, to which may be sent young men of good char- 
acter, who are temporarily destitute, requiring them 
while there to labor eight hours per day, provide 
each with working clothes while on the farm, clean 
and mend their own clothing during their stay, and 
return the same to them when they leave. Organ- 
ize a class for special training in the details of agri- 
culture, and thereby increase the number of practi- 
cal farmers. A plan like this, carried out with skill 
and tact, would give a man a chance to earn his 
meat and drink, and to gain such physical strength 
that if a call came for a strong man he would be 
able to respond. He remains on the farm until he 
hears from his friends, from an employer who is 
ready to give him work, or until some other place is 
found for him. 

The Gospel Temperance movement, another 
project of present interest, is spreading among 
workingmen with a good deal of encouragement. 



A UXILIA R Y ME A SURES. 1 47 

Meetings are held at various points around the city, 
and hundreds of men are signing the temperance 
pledge. If any would look into Carmel Chapel, 134 
Bowery, on Monday evening, Calvary Chapel, 153 
Worth street, on Tuesday evening, De Witt Chapel, 
135 Greenwich street, on Wednesday evening, they 
would be able to see for themselves the character of 
these services and the interest felt in them. 

Christian men, employers, and others, could not 
do a wiser thing than to give their hearty and gen- 
erous support to these and other like enterprises, 
by which a real and practical sympathy for the 
working classes may be shown in the most effective 
way. Correspondence is invited from those who 
have the means and the disposition to aid either or 
any of these projects, and further information of 
plans and methods will be freely given to those 
who may be interested. 



148 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

XXX. 
woman's yroftx IN CITT MISSIONS. 



ORGANIZATION OF THE FEMALE BRANCH. 
OFFICERS AND MANAGERS. 



OFFICERS. 

Mrs. Z. S. Ely, First Directress, 26 West Twen- 
ty-sixth street. 

Mrs. Horace Holden, Second Directress, 15 
West Twelfth street. 

Mrs. John L. Mason, Treasurer, Brooklyn. 

Miss F. L, Baker, Assistant Treasurer, 163 
West Eleventh street. 

Mrs. F. A. Conkling, Secretary, 27 East Tenth 
street. 

Mrs. A. R. Brown, Superintendent, 50 Bible 
House. 

MANAGERS. 
SOUTH REFORMED CHURCH. 

Mrs. J. A. Bennett, 3 East Thirty-third street. 
Miss Louisa Weed, 55 East Twenty-first street. 



WOMAN'S WORK IN CITY MISSIONS. 149 
MADISON SQUARE CHURCH. 

Mrs. William A. Hallock, 132 West Thirteenth 
street. 

Mrs. Z. S. Ely, 26 West Twenty-sixth street. 
Mrs. J. C. Ely, 6 East Thirtieth street. 

FIFTH AVENUE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 

Mrs. Loring Andrews, 139 Fifth avenue. 
Mrs. B. Brown, 117 East Fourteenth street. 
Mrs. M. K. Jesup, 197 Madison avenue. 
Miss S. J. Lee, 161 West Thirty-fourth street. 
Mrs. Wm. Libbey, 47 Park avenue. 
Mrs. C. P. Britton, 12 East Fifty-fourth street. 
Mrs. E. S. Jaffray, 615 Fifth avenue. 

BRICK CHURCH. 

Mrs. Horace H olden, 15 West Twelfth street. 
Miss Sophia Ely, 1 17 East Thirty-seventh street. 
Miss Whitlock, 460 West Twenty-third street. 

THIRTY-FOURTH STREET REFORMED CHURCH. 

Mrs. Henry Camerden, Jr., 358 West Thirty- 
first street. 

COLLEGIATE REFORMED CHURCH, FIFTH AVENUE, 
COR. TWENTY-NINTH STREET. 

Mrs. J. P. White, 224 Madison avenue. 



150 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

MEMORIAL CHURCH, MADISON AVENUE AND FIFTY- 
THIRD STREET. 

Mrs. R. M. Field, 139 East Forty-fifth street. 
Miss G. B. Henry, 73 East Fifty-fourth street. 

UNIVERSITY PLACE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 

Mrs. Charles A. Davison, 8 West Forty-eighth 
street. 

Mrs. F. A. Burrall, 28 West Eleventh street. 
Miss Helen Turnbull, 5 West Sixteenth street. 



FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, FIFTH AVENUE, COR. 
ELEVENTH STREET. 

Mrs. James McLanahan, 33 West Twentieth 
street. 

BROADWAY TABERNACLE. 

Mrs. Joseph E. Case, 19 West Fiftieth street. 
Mrs, Clark Bell, 30 West Fifty-first street. 
Miss L. G. Satterlee, 221 West Forty-second st. 
Miss M. S. Bugbee, 45 West Thirty-fifth street. 

COLLEGIATE REFORMED CHURCH, FIFTH AVENUE, 
COR. OF FORTY-EIGHTH STREET. 

Mrs. S. H. Mead, 674 Madison avenue. 



WOMAN'S WORK IN CITY MISSIONS. 151 

FOURTH PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, WEST THIRTY- 
FOURTH STREET. 

Mrs. James Stuart, 27 East Thirty-seventh st. 
Mrs. F. Blume, 146 West Fifteenth street. 

CHURCH OF THE COVENANT. 

Mrs. Wm. E. Dodge, 225 Madison avenue. 
Miss Emma Sutherland, 336 Lexington avenue. 
Miss Mary Crosby, 150 Lexington avenue. 

CHURCH OF ENGLEWOOD, NEW JERSEY. 

Miss Olivia Hoadley, Englewood, N. J. 

Miss Mary N. Wright, 45 West Thirty-fifth st. 

LUTHERAN CHURCH OF THE HOLY TRINITY, WEST 
TWENTY-FIRST STREET. 

Mrs. Louis S. J. Brewster, 28 West Fifty-sev- 
enth street. 

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. 

Mrs. B. Brown, 117 East Fourteenth street. 
Mrs. M. K. Jesup, 197 Madison avenue. 
Mrs. H. Holden, 15 West Twelfth street. 
Mrs. Wm. A. Hallock, 132 West Thirteenth st. 
Miss S. Lee, 161 West Thirty-fourth street. 

MISSIONARIES. 

1. Mrs. Lefler, 65 Orchard street. 

2. Mrs. Ward, 70 Columbia street. 



152 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

3. Mrs. Rogers, 194 Prince street. 

4. Miss Vantine 409 West Nineteenth street. 

5. Mrs. Van Morsten, 107 First avenue. 

6. Mrs. Wisner, 63 Second street. 

7. Miss McDonald, 50 Bible House. 

8. Miss Eighmey, 55 East Ninth street. 

9. Mrs. Miller, 55 East Ninth street. 

10. Miss Monroe, 55 East Ninth street. 

11. Miss Smyth, 55 East Ninth street. 

12. Miss Dye, 55 East Ninth street. 

13. Miss March, 55 East Ninth street 

14. Miss Root, 50 Bible House. 

15. Mrs. Miles, 155 Worth street. 

16. Miss Dow, 55 East Ninth street. 

17. Miss Gumbart, 55 East Ninth street. 

18. Miss Miller, 55 East Ninth street. 

19. Miss Post, 55 East Ninth street. 

20. Mrs. Barnum, 55 East Ninth street. 

21. Mrs. Sloat, 55 East Ninth street. 



STATEMENT OF THE WORK OF MISSIONARY 

WOMEN. 

Fiftv-five years ago this Society began its 
work of sending the Gospel's invitation to the igno- 
rant and depraved of New York city. 



WORK OF MISSIONARY WOMEN. 153 

The names of all those who, on that March morn- 
ing in 1822, met in Mrs. Bethune's parlor to plan 
its organization, are now graven in marble. " They 
rest from their labors," and we have entered into 
them. 

The increased area of the city since that time, 
and the change in the character of its inhabitants, 
made necessary the employment of paid instead of 
volunteer workers, but has not diminished the power 
or the importance of a Christian woman's influence ; 
and the results of these many years show plainly 
that no agency exists better calculated to reach 
and elevate those whose lines have fallen outside 
the influence of church and pastor. 

AIMS AND METHODS. 

It would seem quite unnecessary, after so many 
years, to define the aims of this Society ; yet hardly 
a week passes in which the question does not come 
in some form, " What do your visitors do ?" 

Many seem to regard our work synonymous 
with that of the Society for Improving the Condi- 
tion of the Poor. We do not so consider it. Though 
there are cases where the body's claims must he first 
attended to, these are not nearly as frequently met 
as we once supposed ; and experience confirms more 

Cuspei Work. 20 



154 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

and more strongly our faith in the truth, "Seek first 
the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and 
these things shall be added." 

Some time since a poor woman in a neighboring 
village hearing that a lady to whom she had looked 
for assistance was about to remove, despairingly 
exclaimed, " What shall we do ? We will have no 
one now to depend on but the Lord." We have 
met many who have seen one prop after another 
removed, till feeling that none was left but God, 
have learned there was none like him. 

Sin being the cause of all our woes, our chief 
aim is to lead the people to see and realize this, 
and then to urge the remedy. This is no routine 
work. When well done it calls into exercise all of 
the powers and ingenuity of the most capable. 

During the last year we have labored much to 
improve the quality of our work, by the study of 
God's Word ; by greater efforts for thoroughness ; 
by meetings for conference and comparing experi- 
ences in the work ; and prayer for God's blessing. 
While this manner of working may not tend to the 
increase of numbers in statistics, we believe the 
record above is more sure to be " well done." 



WORK OF MISSION A R Y WOMEN. 1 5 5 

HOUSE TO HOUSE VISITATION. 

To the influence of our devoted band of workers 
in the homes of the poor, we look for our greatest 
success. There we touch the inner life, and can 
suit the message to individual souls. One who has 
only heard described life in a tenement-house, knows 
little of the great obstacles in the way of Christian 
living among the very poor. The impure air of a 
crowded room is quite as detrimental to spiritual as 
to animal life. How can children, who spend their 
lives either on the sidewalk or crowded into one 
little room, to which their father comes home night- 
ly too much intoxicated to know what he says or 
does, grow up with any sense of propriety, or any 
purity. 

We are looking forward, with earnest hope of 
some relief, to the time when rapid transit will be- 
come an accomplished fact; and watch with great 
interest the growth of public opinion, in apprecia- 
tion of the necessity that something should be done 
to improve the homes, of the lower classes. We 
believe that many are convinced, and the question 
now is not, " Is there need that anything be done ?" 
but " What ?" and " How ?" We do not ask for 
"model" homes, only that some already built be 



156 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

improved in ventilation, and placed in competent 
hands to order and control. Nothing would assist 
more in the moral elevation of the people than some 
practical move in this direction. 

The lack of employment during the last year 
has led many into temptations which have been 
barriers in our way. Many have " regarded every 
day alike" when they could get work, justifying 
their disregard of holy time, saying, " Our first duty 
is to get bread for our children." Notwithstanding 
these and other drawbacks, our work has steadily 
progressed. 

Men who, for seven, fifteen, and twenty years, 
have neglected the house of God, have been brought 
there, and we have been permitted to see the trans- 
forming power of religion in many families where 
formerly there was no thought beyond the want or 
pleasure of the present hour. 

These changes are not wrought by a solitary 
call or admonition, but each has cost many a weary 
journey to the " top floor," many a word of warning 
and earnest prayer, many a season of discourage- 
ment ; but when, by the blessing of God, the reward 
has come, the labor is accounted as nothing. 



WORK OF MISSION A R Y WOMEN. 1 5 7 

OUR WORKERS. 

Twenty-five different missionaries have been in 
the employ of our Society during the year. 

After two or three months' trial, some have 
retired on account of insufficient strength. One, 
who had been with us some time, was called to a 
specific work in which she felt peculiar interest. 
One who received a severe injury from a baseball 
thrown in the street, is at present laid aside. An- 
other has temporarily retired to acquire greater fit- 
ness. And we close the year with the same num- 
ber we began it, seventeen. 

MISSIONARY NURSE. 

A new power for good has been introduced this 
year, the Missionary Nurse. Prepared in the 
Training School, she is thoroughly competent to 
do all that is necessary in cases of extreme illness, 
and has been an unspeakable comfort to many who 
had no one to minister to them. 

We hope before long others will join us in this 
capacity, for a wide field is open for usefulness in 
this way. 

mothers' meetings. 

Our weekly prayer-meetings for mothers, held 
in the afternoon, have numbered in attendance 



158 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

from fifteen to twenty in the smallest, to two hun- 
dred. 

The hour spent at these meetings is often the 
only one during the week when a weary woman 
can break off from her daily duties to listen to 
God's message of love to her. The baby in her 
arms is no hindrance to her enjoyment. The quiet 
alone would be very welcome to her, but what 
power of healing for her spirit in the "Word" dis- 
tinctly read and carefully explained. On Thanks- 
giving day, one of our German workers invited the 
women of her meeting to bring their husbands 
with them, as many would have a holiday. They 
came through the pouring rain, many without um- 
brellas, till over two hundred and seventy were 
gathered to give thanks to God — for what ? 

Some were very thinly clad, and many of them 
had often during the year suffered hunger. What 
had they to be thankful for ? 

As the leader showed those fathers and mothers 
what cause for gratitude they had, in their own 
lives spared to their children, and the children to 
them ; that the word of God in its blessed promises 
had so quickened and established their faith ; and 
more than all, for the riches many of them had 
found in Christ Jesus ; their hearty appreciation of 



WORK OF MISSIONARY WOMEN. 153 

her words was written on their faces, softening the 
deep care-lines. 

As she closed, all who could cordially respond 
to the sentiments expressed were asked to stand. 
They rose as one, and joined in singing, " Oh, for 
a thousand tongues to sing." 

Our English Mothers' Meetings are smaller, 
but not less prized. 

THE OPEN DOOR, 

Formerly located in Sullivan street, now at 194 
. Prince street, still invites the straying ones to 
enter and learn of Him who said, " Go and sin no 
more." 

During the summer Mrs. R who has it in 

charge, paid the penalty of overwork in a severe 
illness. She has hardly recovered her usual 
strength, but has resumed the women's meetings 
at the Tombs and in her house with very satisfac- 
tory results. 

During the month of November ninety-five 
were brought into the house services, and the 
record of the meetings in the Tombs, the last 
seven weeks, gives an aggregate attendance of 
three hundred. 

Weekly visits have been continued at the House 



160 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

of Detention, though the number of women found 
there has been smaller than last year, sometimes 
not more than two or three. 

HELPING HANDS. 

To the question how to carry on the temporal 
and spiritual work together, the Helping Hand 
gives a very satisfactory solution. 

The " relief " received there is earned while the 
work of elevating and instructing goes on. These 
Associations are almost entirely under the care of 
ladies from different churches, who volunteer their 
services. The largest, in Olivet Chapel, has over 
forty ladies engaged in it, and gives assistance to 
three hundred poor women every winter. Our in- 
valuable Englewood helpers are still unwavering in 
their devotion to the one in Lebanon Chapel, assu- 
ming its entire care and support. 

Last summer these ladies extended to six of the 
poor women of their charge an invitation to spend 
a week in their beautiful village. When the week 
had passed, six others took their places. This was 
continued for six weeks, the ladies each in turn 
furnishing the necessary supplies. 

The memory of that week of wonderful expe- 
rience will be "a joy for ever" to those whose lives 
so seldom lead in pleasant paths, 



WORK OF MISSIONARY WOMEN. 161 

The youngest of these sewing meetings, begun 
last winter in Calvary Chapel at the Five Points, 
showed so marked an influence on the women 
attending it, that it has been opened again this 
winter, though we know not from where the 
means are to come for its support. Nothing but 
lack of funds prevents our extending the benefits 
of this branch of our work to many more of those 
so urgent in their request for admission. 

All of the money devoted to the Helping Hands 
is given for that purpose, and not taken from the 
regular contributions to the Society for the support 
of missionaries. The unflagging interest of the 
ladies engaged, some having continued eight years, 
shows their approbation of it ; and the woman who 
said at the last week's meeting, " I am watching all 
of the week for Tuesday to come, it is the bright 
spot in my life," gave expression to the feelings of 
many. 

OUR HOME, 

Which completed its first year in May, has fulfilled 
our hopes in the comfort it affords the Mission- 
aries, and in the opportunity it gives for prepara- 
tion of mind and heart for the important work 
we are doing. With nearly all other organizations 
we are feeling the hard times. During the last 

Grspel Wo:k. 2 1 



1 62 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

month the family has numbered sixteen, and when 
our ranks are again filled the Home will be filled 
also. 

Early in the year the oldest member of the 
Society, Mrs. Thomas C. Doremus, fell asleep. The 
bent form so constantly in our meetings is seen 
by us no more. Her cheering words and rich ex- 
perience are sadly missed, but we know that when 
the Lord comes with his saints we shall see her 
again. 

To all who have so cordially assisted us we 
give hearty thanks. Hospitals have freely opened 
their doors to our sick, those who care for " Wid- 
ows," "Orphans," "Half Orphans," the "Poor," the 
" Aged," the " Friendless," and the " Inebriate," 
have all kindly received those we have taken to 
them, and their cooperation is remembered grate- 
fully. 

Yet we have often met those for whom no 
place could be found, and we were obliged to let 
them slip back into their old haunts and habits. 
Satan is still " wiser than the children of light." 
His followers have located a saloon in a place con- 
venient to the Blackwell's Island boat, where those 
who for longer or shorter time have been eating 
the bread of repentance in the Penitentiary, or 



WORK OF MISSIONARY WOMEN. 163 

recovering from the effects of an evil course in 
Charity Hospital, may prepare themselves for an- 
other term there. But Christian Charity lags be- 
hind, and does not lay a kind hand on the weak 
sister, piloting her by the slippery places. Why ? 
Because among all our Homes there is no place 
where such may be taken. If real Christian love 
united with business capacity would but espouse 
the interests of this class, and open a Shelter for 
them, connecting with it a Laundry, we believe it 
might be made self-supporting, and prevent many 
a suicide. It should be a thoroughly Christian 
Home, to do the work for women which the one 
recently established seems to be accomplishing 
among men. 

There is another class we feel might be easily 
reached were special effort made among them, and 
a place provided where they could earn a living. 
We refer to the colored girls, hundreds of whom 
are walking in the broadest part of the broad way 
that leads to death. Impulsive and vacillating by 
nature, they are easily led into good as well as 
evil, and removed from their surroundings till 
strength in well-doing had been acquired, many 
might be rescued. 

We would express our earnest thanks to those 



1 64 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

who have been our counsellors, as well as to our 
supporters and helpers ; to the young friends in 
Sabbath-school classes out of town who have re- 
membered our sick and suffering ones ; to the 
Flower Mission which has so often filled our hands 
with bouquets for the Mothers' Meetings and sick- 
rooms ; to Dr. Burrall who has by night or day 
rendered cheerfully such valuable service, to Drs. 
Parker and Stimson, and Duberceau, for assistance 
in special cases. 

Above all, we render thanks to Him who has 
given us such abounding token of his approbation, 
in answered prayers, in sustaining grace, and the 
blessing of his presence. In his name our work is 
done, and to him be the praise and glory of its suc- 
cess, now and evermore. 



ORG A NIZA TION. 1 65 



XXXI. 



Oft GAJVIZA. TIOJST. 

CONSTITUTION. 
CHARTER. 

Passed February 19, 1S66, and amended February 24, 1870. 

Act. An Act of Incorporation. 

Title. An Act to Incorporate THE NEW 
CITY MISSION AND TRACT SOCIETY. 

The people of the state of New York, repre- 
sented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as fol- 
lows : 

Section i. George W. Abbe, Richard Amer- 
man, Constant A. Andrews, Benjamin B. Atter- 
bury, Josiah W. Baker, George W. Beale, Nathan 
Bishop, William T. Booth, Benjamin F. Butler, 
William A. Cauldwell, Charles C. Colgate, W T illiam 
W. Cornell, Hiram A. Crane, Stephen Cutter, Hen- 
ry Day, William E. Dodge, Jr., Thomas C. Dore- 
mus, Zebulon S. Ely, Edward P. Griffin, Robert G. 
Hatfield, James C. Holden, Lewis Hallock, M. D., 
David Irwin, Thomas Jeremiah, Morris K. Jesup, 
Caleb B. Knevals, Leonard Hazeltine, Jr., Joseph 
B. Lockwood, Benjamin Lord, John R. Ludlow, A. 



1 66 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

H. Turner, M. D., Almon Merwin, Walter T. Mil- 
ler, Charles C. North, John E. Parsons, William 
Phelps, Alfred A. Post, Archibald Russell, Thomas 
S. Shepherd, Thomas Storm, William Johnston, 
Thomas M. Turlay, William Walker, A. R. Wet- 
more, Ralph Wells, Frederick W. Whittemore, Ja- 
cob F. Wyckoff, Milton St. John, John S. McLean, 
Horace Winans, and their associates, are hereby 
constituted a body corporate by the name of the 
New York City Mission and Tract Society, and by 
that name shall have the powers which by the third 
title of the eighteenth chapter of the first part of 
the Revised Statutes are declared to belong to cor- 
porations, and shall be capable of taking by pur- 
chase or devise, holding or conveying any estate, 
real or personal, for the use and purposes of said 
corporation, subject to any provisions of law in re- 
lation to devises and bequests by wills. Such real 
estate shall not exceed the yearly value of fifty 
thousand dollars. 

Sec. 2. The objects of this corporation are to 
promote morality and religion among the poor and 
destitute of the city of New York, by the employ- 
ment of missionaries, by the diffusion of evangeli- 
cal reading and the sacred Scriptures, by the estab- 
lishment of Sabbath-schools, mission stations and 



ORGANIZA TION. 1 67 

chapels, for the preaching of the gospel, and for 
other ordinances of Divine worship. 

Sec. 3. The business affairs and estate of said 
corporation shall be managed by a Board of fifty 
Directors, who shall hold their office for one year, 
or until others are elected in their place. The first 
Board of Directors shall consist of the fifty persons 
named in the first section of this Act, and they 
shall hold their office until the Wednesday follow- 
ing the second Monday in December, one thousand 
eight hundred and sixty-six, and until their succes- 
sors are chosen. After the year one thousand eight 
hundred and sixty-nine, the Board of Directors 
shall be composed and chosen from persons in com- 
munion with different religious denominations. All 
vacancies in the Board of Directors shall be filled 
as the By-Laws direct. 

Sec. 4. There shall be an annual election for 
Directors on the Wednesday following the second 
Monday in December of each year, at which elec- 
tion each member of said corporation shall be enti- 
tled to cast one vote. There shall be such notice 
and inspection of election as the By-Laws direct. 
Any person who, within one year, has contributed 
ten dollars to the funds of the corporation, or who 
at any one time may have contributed twenty dol- 



i68 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

lars, shall be entitled to vote at such annual elec- 
tion for Directors. 

Sec. 5. At all meetings of the Board of Direc- 
tors, seven members shall constitute a quorum for 
the transaction of business. 

Sec. 6. The said corporation may make such 
By-Laws and rules for the regulation of its busi- 
ness, the management of its affairs, the choice, 
powers, and duties of its officers and agents, as are 
not inconsistent with its charter and the laws of 
the state. 

This Act shall take effect immediately. 

BY-LAWS. 

Article i. The Board of Directors shall annu- 
ally elect a President and a Vice-President. The 
President, or in his absence, the Vice-President, 
shall preside at the meetings of the Society and of 
the Board of Directors. If both of said officers be 
absent, a Chairman pro tempore shall be chosen. 
The Board may elect such persons as they think 
proper Honorary members of the Society. 

Art. 2. The Board of Directors shall appoint a 
Corresponding Secretary, a Recording Secretary, a 
Treasurer, and a Superintendent of Missions, who 
shall hold office during the pleasure of the Board. 



BY-LAWS. 169 

Art. 3. It shall be the duty of the Correspond- 
ing Secretary, under the direction of the Board, to 
conduct the correspondence of the Society and of 
the Board, to attend to the business of the office, 
the publication of statistics and documents, and the 
preparation of reports. 

Art. 4. The Recording Secretary shall give no- 
tice of the meetings of the Board and of the Socie- 
ty, and shall record the Minutes of these meetings, 

Art. 5. The Treasurer shall take charge of the 
funds, and report the state of the treasury at each 
regular meeting of the Board, and pay all bills of 
expenses incurred by the Society, when they shall 
have been examined and passed upon by the Exec- 
utive Committee. 

Art. 6. The Superintendent of Missions, under 
the direction of the Board, shall have a general over- 
sight of the missionary work of the Society, carry 
out their instructions for the regulation of the mis- 
sionaries, the establishment of mission stations, the 
appointment of preaching services ; and shall pre- 
sent these objects to the churches. 

Art. 7. The Board of Directors shall hold meet- 
ings quarterly in the months of January, April, July, 
and October of each year. They shall annually ap- 
point the Executive Committee, and such other 

Gospai Work. 22 



170 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

committees as may be called for from time to 
time. 

Art. 8. The Executive Committee shall consist 
of eighteen members, including the Corresponding 
Secretary, the Treasurer, and the Superintendent 
of Missions, who shall be members ex officio, five of 
whom shall constitute a quorum. 

It shall be their duty to locate the missions, to 
purchase, build, or hire such premises as are re- 
quired for mission stations, and to make all neces- 
sary improvements and alterations in the same from 
time to time. They may lease such part of any 
mission station as is not needed by the Society, for 
purposes not inconsistent with the designs of the 
mission, and they may sell to any evangelical 
church or mission, or any other proper party, any 
station owned by the Society, when in their judg- 
ment it is for the best interest of the cause to do 
so. They shall appoint the missionaries required 
for the service of the Society, fix their salaries, di- 
rect their labors, and the services in the mission 
stations. They may appoint any agents whom they 
may find it expedient to employ in the business of 
the Society ; they may form or acknowledge auxil- 
iary societies, and establish the terms of connection 
between the auxiliaries and the Society; and in 



BY-LAWS. 171 

general are authorized to do whatever may be ne- 
cessary to give efficiency to the work assigned 
them. 

They shall have power to fill all vacancies in 
their own number. They shall annually choose 
out of their own number the following Standing 
Committees : a Finance Committee, a Building 
Committee, and a Missionary Committee, and they 
shall also choose a Visiting Committee for each 
month. 

Any member of the Executive Committee ab- 
senting himself without leave from four consecu- 
tive meetings of the Committee, shall be considered 
as having resigned his seat, and the Committee 
shall proceed to fill the vacancy. 

The Executive Committee shall make reports of 
their proceedings to the Board of Directors. 

Art. 9. At meetings of the Board, the follow- 
ing shall be the order of business : 1. Prayer ; 2. 
Minutes ; 3. Unfinished Business ; 4. Reports of 
Committees ; 5. Reports of Missionaries ; 6. Re- 
port of Superintendent of Missions ; 7. Report of 
Treasurer ; 8. Report of Secretary ; 9. Elections ; 
10. New Business. 

Art. 10. These By-Laws may be amended at 
any regular meeting of the Board of Directors, on 



172 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK' 

the recommendation of the Executive Committee, 
by a vote of two-thirds of the members present. 

THE CHAPELS. 

First Ward, De Witt Chapel, No. 135 Greenwich 
street, near Cedar street. Rev. George Hatt, pas- 
tor ; Mr. James Farrow, assistant. The Mission 
Sabbath-school was organized in 1836, and the Mis- 
sion service was commenced in 1852, and establish- 
ed in the present location in 1873. Sabbath servi- 
ces 10:30 a. m. and 7:30 p. m. Sabbath-school at 
9 a. m. and 2 p. m. Prayer-meetings Tuesday and 
Thursday evenings. Temperance meeting, Wednes- 
day evening. 

There were reported last year 155 preaching 
services, with an attendance in the aggregate of 
7)379 > 3°8 prayer-meetings, with an attendance in 
the aggregate of 5,154; and in the Sunday-school 
1 10 children received instruction during the year. 

Sixth Ward, Calvary Chapel, No. 153 Worth 
street, adjoining House of Industry, near Centre 
street. Temporarily supplied by Mr. W. F. Bar- 
nard. This Chapel first opened for religious servi- 
ces, Sabbath evening, February 13, 1870. The 
church in Calvary Chapel was organized February, 
1 87 1. Sabbath services 10:30 a. m. and 7:30 p. m. 



THE CHAPELS. 173 

Temperance meeting Tuesday evening. Prayer- 
meeting Thursday evening. 

There were reported last year 104 preaching 
services, with an attendance in the aggregate of 
9,417 persons ; 156 prayer-meetings, with an attend- 
ance in the aggregate of 7,809. 

Thirteenth Ward, Lebanon Chapel, No. 70 Co- 
lumbia street. Rev. James Marshall, pastor. 

The Thirteenth Ward Mission was first com- 
menced in 1854; removed to its present location, 
1866. The church was organized in April, 1870. 
Sabbath services 10:30 a. m. and 7:30 p. m. Sab- 
bath-school, 2 p. m. Weekly meetings Monday, 
Wednesday, and Friday evenings. 

There were reported last year 58 preaching ser- 
vices, with an attendance in the aggregate of 5,800 
persons; 180 prayer-meetings, with an attendance 
in the aggregate of 3,300 persons ; and in the Sab- 
bath-school 300 children received instruction. 

Fourteenth Ward, Carmel Chapel, No. 134 Bow- 
ery. Rev. John Dooly, missionary in charge. Sab- 
bath services 7:30 p. m. Prayer-meeting Friday 
evening. Daily prayer-meeting, 12 noon. Tem- 
perance meeting Monday evening. 

There were reported last year 50 preaching ser- 
vices, with an attendance in the aggregate of 8,800 



i;4 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

persons ; 390 prayer-meetings, with an attendance 
in the aggregate of 31,530. 

Seventeenth Ward, Olivet Chapel, No. 61 Sec- 
ond street, near Second avenue. Rev. A. F. 
Schauffler, pastor. 

The Chapel was first opened for religious ser- 
vices, Sabbath evening, December 8, 1867; the 
Church was organized April, 1870. Sabbath servi- 
ces 1 1 a. m. and 7:30 p. m. Sabbath-school iia.m, 
and 2:30 p. m. Prayer-meetings Tuesday and Fri- 
day evenings. 

There were reported last year 156 preaching 
services, with an attendance in the aggregate of 
22,582 persons; 729 prayer-meetings, with an at- 
tendance in the aggregate of 28,254 ; and in the 
Sabbath-school 825 children received instruction. 

The growth of Olivet Chapel may be seen in 
the figures following : The attendance upon the 
Sabbath morning service for several years has been 
as follows: in 1874, 74; in 1875, 92; 1876, 90; 
and in 1877, IQ 6- The attendance Sabbath even- 
ing shows the average attendance in 1874, 117; 
1875, 174; 1876, 204; and in 1877, 244. The 
Tuesday evening prayer-meeting for the same years 
shows 50, 65, 80, and 8y. The Friday evening 
prayer-meeting shows 75, 91, 108 for the last three 



THE CHAPELS. 175 

years. The Sabbath-school attendance has been 
448, 514, 533, and 574 for the last four years, the 
ratio of attendance having doubled in the same time. 

German Missions. Rev. Conrad Doench, pas- 
tor. German services, Sabbath at 10:30 a. m., and 
Thursday at 7:30 p. m., No. 70 Columbia street. 
Sabbath at 3 p. m., and Tuesday at 7:30 p. m., at 
No. 135 Greenwich street. Rev. Philip Jeblick, 
pastor. German services, Sabbath at 9:30 a. m., 
and Monday at 7:30 p. m., at No. 63 Second street. 

There were reported last year 231 preaching 
services, with an attendance in the aggregate of 
17,893 persons; 282 prayer-meetings, with an at- 
tendance in the aggregate of 16,928 persons ; and 
in the German Sabbath-school 200 children received 
instruction during the year. 

Helping Hand for Men, 316 Water street. 
Reading-room open daily ; religious services every 
evening at 7:30; and on the Sabbath at 2:30 and 
7:30 P. M. 

The Churches. — In three of the chapels, the 
Christian ordinances have been introduced, and the 
total number of communicants enrolled in all, from 
the beginning, April, 1870, is 1,347. The number 
received last year is 147. The present number is 
803. 



176 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

THE SERVICES. 

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CARMEL CHAPEL. 177 

CARMEL CHAPEL, 134 BOWERY. 

The City Mission is making systematic efforts 
to carry the gospel to all persons, without respect 
to country, creed, color, sex, or age, and through its 
various instrumentalities reaches hundreds of thou- 
sands of all classes. In 1872, in conjunction with 
the Young Men's Christian Association, a building 
was leased in the Bowery, near Grand street, and 
fitted up in a neat and attractive manner as a chapel 
and reading-room. This chapel was first opened 
Sabbath evening, May 5, 1872, with a sermon by 
the Rev. Dr. John Hall. In September following, 
the Rev. A. F. Schaufner took charge of the work, 
and continued in office until called to the Olivet 
Chapel. Lately the Rev. D. Stuart Dodge has vol- 
untarily given his time freely to the general over- 
sight of the work. The Rev. John Dooly, the 
assistant missionary, may daily be found at the 
chapel. 

The work of Carmel Chapel is almost exclusively 
among men — men who have come to the city in 
search of employment, and failing in this, and being 
without means or friends, are compelled to accept 
assistance. The statistics of the operations direct- 
ly under the charge of the Young Men's Christian 
g. 1s?1! ] woik. 23 



173 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

Association for the last year, will indicate the use- 
fulness of the work : 

Total number Calls made and received 9,430 

Letters written by visitors 9,800 

Men sent to hospital - 59 

Visitors to Reading-room S.030 

Free lodgings- 8,941 

Different men lodged T ) 2 30 

" " Free baths 1.498 

" " Garments given 266 

" " Meals given 39,998 

'• " " sold- - 55> x 97 

" " Situations furnished 227 

" " Men registered - 675 

The religious services under the immediate direc- 
tion of Rev. D. Stuart Dodge are attended by large 
numbers, and many have given credible evidence of 
a radical change in heart and life. The general 
order of the meetings held in Carmel Chapel for the 
week is as follows : 

Daily noonday Prayer-meeting 12 to 1 p.m. 

Sabbath. — Meeting of Special Prayer, 4 p. m.; 
Preaching for the People, 7 : 30 p. m. 

Monday. — Gospel Temperance Meeting, 7 : 30 
p. M. 

Tuesday. — Inquiry Meeting, 7 : 30 p. m. 

Wednesday. — Young Men's Social Prayer-meet- 
ing, 7 : 30 p. m. 



C ARM EL CHAPEL. 179 

Thursday. — Entertainments, Readings, etc., 
when advertised. 

Friday. — Prayer-meeting, 7 : 30 p. m. 

Family Prayers in the Library every evening, 
9:30. 

For the six years Carmel Chapel has been open, 
the aggregate attendance has been as follows : 

Temperance Meetings, (Pledges signed, 4,283) 61,608 

Inquiry Meetings - - 6,260 

Friday evening Prayer-meetings 23,904 

Sabbath evening Preaching service 38,834 

Noonday Prayer-meetings 144,1 14 

Grand total -274,7 10 

The grand idea of Carmel Chapel is the preach- 
ing of the gospel, and the Executive Committee 
earnestly invite the attention of the friends and 
subscribers of the City Missions to the urgent 
necessity of sustaining this chapel, where the 
preaching of the gospel and other religious and 
moral services are regularly maintained, and where 
a large congregation is easily gathered. The neces- 
sary expenses for rent, missionary services, and 
incidentals must be provided for, and it is hoped 
that the evident usefulness of this work will en- 
courage the wealthy and benevolent to furnish the 
means necessary to establish and endow it, and 
provide for the erection of a suitable building, com- 



180 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

modious and attractive, which shall stand on the 
great thoroughfare as a permanent institution for 
the glory of God and the salvation of souls. 



OLIVET CHAPEL, NO. 63 SECOND STREET. 

Seventeenth Ward, Olivet Chapel, No 63 Sec- 
ond street, near Second avenue, Rev. A. Schauffler, 
pastor. 

The chapel was first opened for religious servi- 
ces, Sabbath evening, December 8, 1867; the 
church was organized April, 1870. Sabbath servi- 
ces, 1 1 a. m. and 7 : 30 p. m. Sabbath-school, 1 1 
a. m. and 2 \ p. m. Prayer-meetings Tuesday and 
Friday evenings. 

There were reported last year 156 preaching 
services with an attendance in the aggregate of 
22,582 persons ; 729 prayer-meetings with an at- 
tendance in the aggregate of 28,254 ; and in the 
Sabbath-school 825 children received instruction. 

The growth of Olivet chapel may be seen in 
the figures following ; The attendance upon the 
Sabbath-morning service, for several years, has 
been as follows : in 1874, 74 ; in 1875, 92 ; in 1876, 
90; and in 1877, 106. The attendance Sabbath 
evening shows the average attendance in 1874, 



OLIVET CHAPEL. 181 

117; 1875, x 74>' l8 76, 204; and in 1877, 244. 
The Tuesday evening prayer-meeting for the same 
years, shows 50, 65, 8o, and 8y. The Friday even- 
ing prayer-meeting shows 75, 91, 108, for the last 
three years. The Sabbath-school attendance has 
been 448, 514, 543, and 574, the last four years, the 
ratio of attendance having doubled in the same time. 
The chapel is admirably divided into rooms of 
various sizes, all of which may be thrown open 
upon occasion, thereby adapting the accommoda- 
tions to larger or smaller meetings, and to the vari- 
ous purposes of the mission. Let us see how the 
missionary work is carried on, and what is aimed 
at in the different means and agencies employed. 
We commence with the Sabbath. At 9^ a. m. 
preaching in German ; at 1 1 a. m. Bible-class 
exercises, which take the place of a preaching 
service and of the morning session of the Sab- 
bath-school ; at 2\ p. m. the regular session of 
the Sabbath-school is held ; at 4 p. m, a Sabbath 
school prayer-meeting ; and at j\ p. m. the evening 
preaching service is held, which closes the Sabbath. 
Monday at 7| p. m. the German people meet for 
prayer and conference. Tuesday, at 2 p. m. the 
Helping Hand Association gather the poor women 
together to make up, at a fair compensation, useful 



1 82 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

garments for themselves and their families, which 
are afterwards sold to them at cost. The Associa- 
tion also provide a few groceries, which are retailed 
at wholesale prices. While the women are at work, 
familiar talks on household thrift and economy, and 
domestic management, and matters of sickness, 
health, etc., are entered upon by the pastor and other 
competent persons. At j\ p. m. the regular weekly 
prayer-meeting is held. Wednesday, at 2 p. m. the 
pastor meets with his assistants and colaborers to 
look over the work, and seek by prayer and confer- 
ence renewed strength and courage ; at J\ p. m. 
the Sabbath-school teachers meet for the study of 
the lesson. Thursday, at 2 p. m. the German 
Mothers' meeting is held. Friday, at 2 p. m., the 
English Mothers' meeting is held ; at J\ p. m. the 
young people meet for prayer and praise. Satur- 
day, at \o\ a. m., the Children's prayer-meeting 
and sewing-school are held. 

In Olivet Chapel there is a church organization, 
in which there have been enrolled 628 members, 
and a Sabbath-school of children and youth of 825 
members. There is a Missionary Association, a 
Young People's Association, a Mutual Sewing Re- 
lief Association, a Helping Hand Association, and 
other auxiliaries for good. 



HELPING HAND AT OLIVET CHAPEL. 1S3 
THE HELPING HAND AT OLIVET CHAPEL. 

Helping women to help themselves is the best 
kind of help. While so many Christian workers 
are discussing the questions, " How to help the 
poor without pauperizing them," " How to prevent 
imposition," and " How to reach the masses," a 
band of women is quietly working out the problem 
in a down-town chapel. 

Every Tuesday afternoon they meet for three 
hours, from half-past one. Every applicant for aid 
is visited and her case thoroughly investigated, If 
worthy, she is received, placed in a class, given a 
garment on which to sew, and a card prepared for 
the purpose, on which the account of her earnings 
is placed each week. Twelve cents an hour is the 
price paid for labor there. Good material is pro- 
vided, and the garments must be well made. The 
women are permitted to order the garments most 
needed by them or their children, and if they wish 
can take half their pay in groceries. 

Nearly three hundred, divided into classes of 
eight, have been employed this winter. Three- 
fourths of these are widows — many with families, 
and others, too old to work, yet unwilling to go to 
the almshouse, while soul and body can be kept 
together in any other way. 



1 84 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

And while these prudent, efficient, and success- 
ful efforts are made to supply these women with 
work and wages, they are also furnished with the 
best religious instruction, and their social and 
moral wants met with kindness and care. Any 
interested in this work will be welcome at Olivet 
Chapel, 63 Second street, every Tuesday afternoon, 
and a few ladies who speak German will be invalu- 
ble. 

Like all kindred institutions, this feels the 
pressure of the times. Though the applications 
are multiplied, the means have not increased in 
proportion. A separate fund is kept for the relief 
of special cases, and any donations for either the 
general work or the " Emergency Fund," will be 
gladly received and faithfully applied, if addressed 
to Mrs. M. K. Jesup, 197 Madison avenue, Mrs. 
David S. Egleston, 8 East Thirty-fifth street, or 
Mrs. A. R. Brown, 50 Bible House. 

Helping Hands are also carried on, in connec- 
tion with Lebanon Chapel and Calvary Chapel ; that 
in the former place being supported and managed 
by ladies of the Presbyterian church, Englewood, 
N. ]., Rev. Henry M. Booth, pastor. 



HONORARY MEMBERS. 



185 



HONORARY MEMBERS. 



Rev. Thos. E. Vermilye, D. D. 
Rev. Wm. Adams, D. D. 
Rev. Wm. R. Williams, D. D. 
Rev. Mancius S. Hutton, D. D. 
Rev. Stephen H. Tyng, D. D. 
Rev. Edward D. Smith, D. D. 
Rev. Edwin F. Hatfield, D. D. 
Rev. Sam'l D. Burchard, D. D. 
Rev. Thomas Armitage, D. D. 
Rev. T. W. Chambers, D. D. 
Rev. Wm. A. Hallock, D. D. 
Rev. S. I. Prime, D. D. 
Rev. Henry M. Field, D. D. 
Rev. R. D. Hitchcock, D. D. 
Rev. Wm. W. Newell, D. D. 
Rev. George L. Prentiss, D. D. 
Rev. E. P. Rogers, D. D. 
Rev. W. G. T. Shedd, D. D. 
Rev. T. D. Anderson, D. D. 
Rev. S. D. Alexander, D. D. 
Rev. Joseph Holdich, D. D. 
Rev. Howard Crosby, D. D. 
Rev. Robert R. Booth, D. D. 
Rev. D.M.L. Quackinbush, D.D, 
Rev. Enoch Van Aken. 
Rev. John Cotton Smith, D. D. 
Rev. Andrew Stevenson, D. D. 
Rev. Thos. S. Hastings, D. D. 
Rev. C. C. Norton. 
Rev. E. A. Washburn, D. D. 
Rev. James D. Wilson. 
Rev. S. H. Tyng, Jr., D. D. 
Rev. Julius W. Geyer. 
Rev. David Gregg. 
Rev. David Terry. 
Rev. W. M. Paxton, D. D. 
Rev. Wm. Ormiston, D. D. 
Rev. A. A. Reinke. 

Gospel Woik. 24 



Rev. W. T. Sabine. 

Rev. John Hall, D. D. 

Rev. G. S. Chambers. 

Rev. N. W. Conkling, D. D. 

Rev. A. C. Wedekind, D. D. 

Rev. J. J. Brouner. 

Rev. G. H. Mandeville, D. D. 

Rev. R. H. Newton. 

Rev. C. S. Robinson, D. D. 

Rev. Henry M. Booth. 

Rev. Wm. M. Taylor, D. D. 

Rev. Edward L. Clark. 

Rev. George H. Hepworth. 

Rev. M. R. Vincent, D. D. 

Rev. S. M. Hamilton. 

Rev. S. B. Rossiter. 

Rev. Halsey Moore. 

Rev. J. S. Ramsay. 

Rev. C. A. Stoddard, D. D. 

Rev. George O. Phelps. 

Rev. George S. Payson. 

«Rev. W. J. Tucker, D. D. 

Rev. Erskine N. White, D. D. 

Rev. F. H. Marling. 

Rev. Joseph R. Kerr. 

Rev. Carlos Martyn. 

Rev. Alfred H. Moment. 

Rev. Henry T. Hunter. 

Rev. L. D. Bevan. 

Rev. Arthur Brooks. 

Mr. R. L. Stuart. 

Mr. Samuel B. Schieffelin. 

Mr. William Walker. 

Mr. E. S. Jaffray. 

Mr. James Lenox. 

Mr. William E. Dodge. 

Mr. Frederick Marquand. 

Mr. William Libbey. 



1 86 



GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 



OFFICERS. 

PRESIDENT. 

A. R. WETMORE. 

VICE-PRESIDENT AND TREASURER. 

MORRIS K. JESUP. 

CORRESPONDING SECRETARY AND ASSISTANT TREASURER. 

LEWIS E. JACKSON. 



DIRECTORS. 



George W. Abbe. 
Austin Abbott. 
Benjamin B. Atterbury. 
Josiah W. Baker. 
George W. Beale. 
Nathan Bishop. 
Riley A. Brick. 
James H. Briggs. 
Albert N. Brown. 
John S. Bussing. 
William A. Cauldwell. 
Charles C. Colgate. 
John B. Cornell. 
Hiram A. Crane. 
Stephen Cutter. 
Henry Day. 
William E. Dodge, Jr. 
Charles M. Earle. 
David S. Egleston. 
Ambrose K. Ely. . 
Zebulon S. Ely. 
Lewis Hallock, M. D. 
A. S. Hatch. 
Robert Hoe. 
James C. Holden. 



Samuel Inslee, Jr. 
David Irwin. 
Joseph C. Jackson. 
Thomas F. Jeremiah. 
Morris K. Jesup. 
John Taylor Johnson. 
Joseph F. Joy. 
Caleb B. Knevals. 
Charles Lanier. 
Joseph B. Lockwood. 
Benjamin Lord. 
George De F. Lord. 
John R. Ludlow. 
Walter T. Miller. 
John E. Parsons. 
Howard Potter. 
Gamaliel G. Smith. 
James T. Smith. 
Roswell C. Smith. 
Thomas Storm. 
Thomas S. Strong. 
John H. Washburn. 
A. R. Wetmore. 
Thomas W. Whittemore. 
Jacob F. Wyckoff. 



OFFICERS. 187 

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. 

Rev. John Hall, D. D. Morris K. Jesup. 

Rev. C. S. Robinson, D. D. William E. Dodge, Jr. 

Rev. Wm. M. Taylor, D. D. Howard Potter. 

Rev. Wm. Ormiston, D. D. A. S. Hatch. 

Rev. Wm. J. Tucker, D. D. Gamaliel G. Smith. 

Rev. D. Stuart Dodge. Walter T. Miller. 

A. R. Wetmore. Ambrose K. Ely. 

Nathan Bishop. John E. Parsons. 

John Taylor Johnston. Lewis E. Jackson. 

BUILDING COMMITTEE. 

Morris K. Jesup. Howard Potter. 

John Taylor Johnston. Ambrose K. Ely. 

Gamaliel G. Smith. 

MISSIONARY COMMITTEE. 

Rev. John Hall, D. D. Rev. Wm. Ormiston, D.D. 

Rev. C. S. Robinson, D. D. Rev. Wm. J. Tucker, D.D. 

Rev. Wm. M. Taylor, D. D. A. R. Wetmore. 

FINANCE COMMITTEE. 
A. R. Wetmore. William E. Dodge, Jr. 

Morris K. Jesup. A. S. Hatch. 

Howard Potter. 

AUDITORS. 

Walter T. Miller. Ambrose K. Ely. 

The Corresponding Secretary is a member ex-officio of all the 
standing committees. 



GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 
MISSIONARIES. 

i. Mr. Lewis E. Jackson, Sec, 50 Bible House. 

2. Rev. George Hatt, 135 Greenwich street. 

3. Mr. James Farrow, 135 Greenwich street. 

4. Mr. W. F. Barnard, 153 Worth street. 

5. Mr. John Anderson, 185 Spring street. 

6. Rev. James Marshall, 70 Columbia street. 

7. Mr. G. W. Martin, 70 Columbia street. 

8. Rev. John Dooly, 134 Bowery. 

9. Mr. John Ruston, 1 14 East 22d street. 

10. Rev. A. F. Schauffler, 63 Second street. 

11. Mr. Robert T. Listen, 63 Second street. 

12. Mr. Eugene Peck, 63 Second street. 

13. Rev. Conrad Doench, 132 Cannon street. 

14. Rev. Philip Jeblick, 143 First avenue. 

15. Mr. G. R. Lederer, 303 West 29th street. 

16. Rev. Marinus Willett, 50 Bible House. 

17. Mr. J. F. Patton, 2247 Second avenue. 

18. Mrs. Lefler, 65 Orchard street. 

19. Mrs. Ward, 70 Columbia street. 

20. Mrs. Rogers, 194 Prince street. 

21. Miss Vantine, 409 West 19th street. 

22. Mrs. Van Morsten, 107 First avenue. 

23. Mrs. Wisner, 63 Second street. 

24. Miss McDonald, 50 Bible House. 



MISSIONARIES. 189 

25. Miss Eighmey, 55 East Ninth street. 

26. Mrs. Miller, 55 East Ninth street. 

27. Miss Monroe, 55 East Ninth street. 

28. Miss Smyth, 55 East Ninth street. 

29. Miss Dye, 55 East Ninth street. 

30. Miss March, 55 East Ninth street. 

31. Miss Root, 50 Bible House. 

32. Mrs. Miles, 155 Worth street, 

33. Miss Dow, 55 East Ninth street. 

34. Miss Gumbart, 55 East Ninth street. 

35. Miss Miller, 55 East Ninth street. 

36. Miss Post, 55 East Ninth street. 

37. Mrs. Barnum, 55 East Ninth street. 

38. Mrs. Sloat, 55 East Ninth street. 

39. Mrs. A. R. Brown, Sup't Female Branch, 

50 Bible House. 
The missionary women in the foregoing list are 
appointed and supported by the Female Branch of 
the City Mission, and their labors are directed by 
the Female Superintendent in connection with the 
Executive Committee of the Female Branch. 



PRESENT STATUS OF THE GOSPEL WORK. 

This Society has under its care 35 MISSION- 
ARIES, who make 70,000 VISITS every year, 
carrying help, and sympathy, and comfort, and 



190 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

blessing to 20,000 FAMILIES who are outside of 
all parochial care. 

The CITY MISSION gives the preaching of 
the gospel to 250,000 PERSONS during the year. 
Recently it has commenced the administration of 
the Christian ordinances in the Mission Chapels, 
so that now the people have pastoral care and in- 
struction, and Christian fellowship and aid, and 
church government and discipline, as in regularly 
incorporated churches. 

In THREE CHAPELS Christian communities 
have been organized on a simple union basis, the 
Apostles' Creed being the only symbol of faith, and 
more than 1,347 members in all have been enrolled. 

The CITY MISSION gathers the children into 
Sabbath-schools wherever accessible, and supports 
4 MISSION SABBATH-SCHOOLS, giving in- 
struction and care to 2,000 children, mostly of the 
very destitute and needy class. 

It also maintains Sewing Schools, Helping 
Hand Associations, Employment Societies, Tem- 
perance Organizations, Reading Rooms, Lodging 
Houses, and in every way that Christian love and 
ingenuity can devise, is seeking to carry the gospel 
to the poor and needy who are not reached by the 
churches. 



PRESENT STATUS OF GOSPEL WORK. 191 

TO SUPPORT THE MISSIONARIES, main- 
tain the MISSION CHAPELS, and carry on 100 
DIFFERENT SERVICES every week, and pro- 
vide the TRUTH FOR DISTRIBUTION, only 
$50,000 per year is required. Properly and efficient- 
ly to reach the spiritual destitutions of the city, 
$100,000 or $200,000 could be advantageously used. 

And the disbursement of the largest amount 
named would not involve the addition of a single 
dollar for office expenses or salaries. The ratio of 
expense is only 2\ per cent, of the income, and the 
larger the capital the smaller the ratio of expense, 
the cost of administration being the same. 

The Executive Committee of the City Mission, 
composed of pastors and laymen, give their personal 
attention to the management of affairs, and reg- 
ularly inspect every department of the work. 

Mr. Lewis E. Jackson, Corresponding Secre- 
tary and Assistant Treasurer, collects the statistics, 
edits the reports and documents, and attends to the 
correspondence, the finances, and the general busi- 
iness of the Society. 

The work of the Female Branch, an important 
auxiliary, is directed by Mrs. A. R. Brown, Super- 
intendent. 

The Annual Report of the City Mission, con- 



1 92 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

taining full accounts of all the churches and chari- 
ties of the city, may be had on application at the 
office, 50 Bible House. 



CHURCH ORGANIZATION. 

When a church is to be organized, the order of 
proceeding is as follows : 

1. A committee of the Executive Committee 
shall be appointed to visit the mission chapel, and 
those persons who shall wish to unite in the Chris- 
tian society there to be formed, shall present to 
this committee the evidence of their piety, either 
by certificate of their church membership, or by 
examination before the committee, and when ap- 
proved by the committee they shall form the 
Christian Society of said mission. 

2. The Society thus defined shall immediately 
proceed to elect, by a majority of all its members, 
in which of the forms recognized among evangelical 
Christians the ordinances shall be observed within 
it, and this decision shall be irreversible in that 
Society, except by a vote of three-fourths of all its 
members. 

3. It shall then be submitted to the Society 
whether they will elect four or six officers, in 
classes of two each, to whom shall be committed 



CHURCH ORG A NIZA TION. i 93 

the duty of examining, under the counsel of the 
missionary in charge, and receiving all additional 
members, and of excluding from the ordinances 
those who, after a fair investigation, shall be found 
to be unworthy of them. 

4. If such election be determined upon, it shall 
at once proceed. The officers of the second class 
then elected shall hold office for one year, when 
there shall be an election of an equal number of 
officers to take their place. The officers of the 
first class shall be replaced by an election to be 
held two years hence, and yearly elections shall be 
held thereafter, in such manner that all officers 
shall serve for two years. The officers who shall 
have completed their term of office shall be re- 
eligible. 

5. These officers shall have a spiritual oversight 
of the members of the Society, but they shall have 
no control of any of those details of mission work 
which have hitherto been within the power of the 
Executive Committee. The discipline which they 
shall administer shall conform to rules to be here- 
after drawn out by the Executive Committee. 

6. When any convert who shall wish to join the 
Society thus constituted, shall have conscientious 
preferences in behalf of any form of baptism in use 

Gospel Work. 25 



194 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

among evangelical Christians, that ordinance shall 
be administered in his case according to such pref- 
erence. And when so many as five members of 
such Society shall have conscientious preferences 
in behalf of any mode of administering the Lord's 
Supper, which is in use among evangelical Chris- 
tians, and is different from that which has been 
chosen by the Society, a special communion-ser- 
vice, according to such preference, shall be appoint- 
ed for them, to occur as frequently as the service 
adopted by the Society. 

7. The ordinances shall in each case be admin- 
istered by an ordained minister, who shall be con- 
nected with some evangelical ecclesiastical body in 
this city or vicinity. 

8. The Apostles' creed shall be adopted by the 
Society above described. 



FORMS OF REPORTS. 



195 



FORM OF REPORTING. 
FORM OF MISSIONARY REPORT. 
Ward Report 187 





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FORM OF FEMALE MISSIONARY REPORT. 
Assistant Missionary Report Month 187 





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FORM OF RETURN FOR CONVASSING A DISTRICT. 
City Missionary Census New York, 187 



















































































































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195 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

BENEVOLENT SOCIETIES— CORPORATE TITLES. 

In the accompanying list only the leading gen- 
eral organizations are named. A more complete 
catalogue will be found in " Christian Work in 
New York," the Annual published by the City 
Mission and Tract Society. 

American Board of Commissioners for Foreign 
Missions. 

American Bible Society. 

American Home Missionary Society. 

American Missionary Association. 

American Church Missionary Society of the 
Protestant Episcopal Churc i. 

American Baptist Missionary Union. 

American Female Guardian Society. 

American Seamen's Friend Society. 

American Tract Society. 

American Sunday-school Union. 

Association for Improving the Condition of the 
Poor in the City of New York. 

Association for Respectable, Aged, Indigent 
Females in the City of New York. 

Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian 
Church in the United States of America. 



BENEVOLENT SOCIETIES. 197 

Board of Home Missions of the Presbyterian 
Church in the United States of America. 

Children's Aid Society in the City of New 
York. 

Five Points House of Industry, in the City of 
New York. 

Home for Fallen and Friendless Girls, in the 
City of New York. 

Howard Mission and Home for Little Wander- 
ers, in the City of New York. 

Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. 

National Temperance Society and Publication 
House. 

New York City Mission and Tract Society. 

New York City Mission and Tract Society for 
the Benefit of the Female Branch. 

New York City Mission and Tract Society for 
the Christian Workers' Home. 

New York Juvenile Asylum. 

New York Magdalen Benevolent Society. 

New York Society for the Relief of the Rup- 
tured and Crippled. 

Prison Association of New York. 

Society for Promoting the Gospel among Sea- 



i 9 8 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

men in the Port of New York, usually called the 
Port Society. 

Wilson Industrial School fur Girls, in the City 
of New York. 

Woman's Aid Society, in the City of New 
York. 

Woman's Hospital of the State of New York. 

Young Men's Christian Association of the City 
of New York. 

Young Women's Christian Association of the 
City of New York. 

In this enumeration is presented a fair repre- 
sentation of the more prominent charities of the 
city, such as any good citizen might choose to 
remember in his will. Of course there are many 
other worthy objects, and there are societies, and 
boards, and institutions in connection with particu- 
lar religious denominations, which could not be 
brought into this brief compass. Without dispar- 
aging any other benevolent enterprise, it may be 
said that it is believed that a careful examination 
of the work of City Evangelization will encourage 
the wealthy and benevolent not only to contribute 
generously to its support from year to year, but 
will also lead them to remember the cause in their 



FORM OF A BEQUEST. 199 

wills. A sum sufficient to endow a bed in a Hos- 
pital, or in a Home for Incurables, or to create an 
Emergency Fund, or to establish a Missionary- 
Sanitarium, would be of great service to the cause. 
A legacy of $50,000 will provide for the erection 
of a Mission Chapel, which would become a fitting 
memorial of the testator, and stand on some of the 
city thoroughfares, as a permanent institution for 
the glory of God and the salvation of souls. 

Legacies of any amount will be acceptable, and 
will be used in forwarding the objects of city evan- 
gelization, or devoted to any special purpose desig- 
nated by the testator. The form to be used in 
making bequests will be found below : 



FORM OF A BEQUEST TO THE CITY MISSION. 

I give and bequeath to " The New York City 
Mission and Tract Society," instituted in the 
City of New York, and incorporated by the Legis- 
lature of the State of New York, the sum of 
dollars to be applied to the char- 
itable uses and purposes of said Society. 

A general form of bequest is added, which may 
be used for any other benevolent society, by filling 
in the blanks : 



200 GOSPEL WORK IN NEW YORK. 

GENERAL FORM OF A BEQUEST. 
I bequeath to my executors the sum of 
dollars, in trust, to pay over the same in 

after my decease, to the person who, when the 

same is payable, shall act as treasurer of the 

Society, formed in 

in the year eighteen hundred and 1 to be 

applied to the charitable purposes of said Society 
and under its direction. 



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